Cat and Mouse
by tinkertot95
Summary: Maddie Smith grew up in an orphanage with no idea of who her parents were. Twenty-five years later, she's a successful detective and has a best friend who's like family. What happens when enemies she didn't even know she had begin to surface? What happens when abilities she never even knew she had begin to surface? What's love got to do with any of it? What on Earth is a Stark?
1. Chapter 1

_Welcome! Welcome! To the very first chapter of Cat and Mouse! This is my first attempt at a fiction such as this one, so go easy on me! I really appreciate it when people review to tell me what they think would make my work better, so please do that. I am open to ideas and suggestions and if you spot anything that seems weird or out of place, just let me know and I will address it. I don't own anyone but my original characters, etc. Well! Here goes everything!_

I start walking, hoping to God that the goons follow me. If they do, that'll give my partner a chance. Heaven knows that he needs all the luck and assistance that he can get. How did I ever get roped into this? Detective...it has a nice ring to it certainly, but the job itself is kind of crazy. I have a badge and everything, and authority. I just sort of work outside of everyone else, like I'm my own boss. I answer directly to the commissioner, Mr. Cooper. He handpicked my partner and I. At first, I hated Will's guts, but I've grown to appreciate him. He's old fashioned in the sense that he thinks I should leave the dangerous stuff to him.

"Hello boys." I say very pleasantly. "Fancy meeting you here. Is there anything I can possibly help you with?" I ask, and they just smirk at me. "are we staying quiet tonight? It's rude to not answer questions." I say, and then they attack. I react quickly and disable them, not before taking a blow to the face. I swiftly walk out of the ally and wave to a police car driving by. He pulls up to the sidewalk and I flash my bade. "Hey guys, I've got a few of Balkov's men sleeping in the ally over there. Assault of an officer should do." I say in reference to the bruise forming on my cheek.

"Right. We'll take care of it." The officer driving says as his partner begins to radio in some backup.

"Now, to go and get my idiot." I say as I take off running where I left Will. Some could argue that I would be better off on my own, but I disagree. I can't count how many times he's saved my ass, and I've saved his. We compliment each other in weird ways. I arrive at the building and sneak in through a half-boarded up window. I hear voices and proceed cautiously through the building.

"Oh no, Madeline is on vacation. We agreed that she deserves it. You've been quite busy as of late." Will lies smoothly. Trying to lull Balkov into a sense of false security.

"Yes, I have been. I'm close to taking over the underground. Do you think that Miss. Madeline would notice me then?" Balkov asks. He has some sick, romantic interest in me. It's annoying.

"Maybe enough notice to break your arm. You really hurt someone that she was fond of." Will says conversationally.

"She will come around you know, William. What will you do then?" Balkov asks and I listen intently. Curious to his answer.

"Well, given that scenario...I would most likely have to get her some psychiatric attention and possibly some good Brandy. Then we may have to officially put you away for good." He responds cooly. Only I could possibly detect the edge to his tone.

"What if I killed you? You're the only thing standing between her and I." Balkov says, equally as cool.

"You'd have to catch me first Balkov. Also, something tells me...she hates you. Isn't that right Madeline?" Will says and I walk into the room.

"Exactly, my dear. I don't and never will love someone as low as you. I suppose we can all dream though. Something to think about while you rot in jail." I say, sounding absolutely bored. "Speaking of which. A few of your boys are going in. Punched me in the face."

"He'd be dead anyway. You know they have specific orders to not lay a hand on you." He says before offering me a drink.

"Charming. Anyway, you can give William the information or I could accidentally shoot you." I say moving to stand with Will." My gun has a sensitive trigger."

"My brother knows that much. To answer William's question though. I honestly don't know who the new kid is." He says sitting down at his desk. Balkov is really very annoying. The entire police department _knows_ that he's a criminal, but no one has ever been able to catch him and prove his guilt. His thugs are easy to catch, though. I enjoy doing that because it annoys him to have to get new guys.

"Can you do some digging on your own then?" I ask, being civil enough. Regardless of his criminal status, he's a good informant. He isn't a murderer...of innocents. If he put his resources to good causes then the world me be a little better.

"That depends. Have dinner with me." He responds confidently. I turn the safety on my gun off. "I'm not afraid of you." He says defiantly. I shoot the wall next to his head. Close enough that he would have heard the bullet whiz past. He's as pale as a sheet.

"You aren't? I wonder how close I could get to your head before actually shooting you." I say offhandedly looking at my gun.

"Alright. I'll do some digging." He agrees. "We'll discuss dinner another time then. I must say though, you look beautiful. Did you do something different with your hair?"

"Go to Hell." I say before putting the safety on and tucking my gun away. "Lets get out of here." I say and start walking.

"Right behind you." Will says and I continue on my way, letting him have his moment. He doesn't let me know everything, but I do know more about him than anyone. Mostly through watching him, but he does tell me some things. I climb out the window I entered through and head to Will's car. I've been driving all week, and honestly, it's not my favorite thing to do.

"Let me see your face." Will says as he gets in, succeeding in giving me a heart attack. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm tired and somewhat annoyed." I answer honestly. No point in lying or hiding anything from him. He'd be able to tell in an instant. In short, he's annoying. He 'ahh's' and gently turns my head to the side. His hands are surprisingly smooth for our line of work. Not perfect, though. There is a scar on his left palm from when Balkov stabbed all the way through, trapping him until he could remove the knife. It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't been so eager to save me.

"He hit like a girl." He notes and I give him a look. "What? You hit like a man, so I don't count you in that generalization. Don't be so sensitive." I roll my eyes. "Right then, shall we get coffee? I know how jittery you get without caffeine." He says as he buckles his seat belt and starts the car.

"You talk like you know me, Will." I say with a slight smile. "So...what did you want to talk to Balkov about?" I ask offhandedly.

"I wish that you wouldn't worry about it." He says with a sigh. "However, I realize that you worry about everything." I begin to deny it, but he stops me. "I really wish you would leave well enough alone and let me handle it. One of these days he may turn around and say if he can't have you, no one will." He honestly sounds worried.

"Will...if he ever said that to me I'd shoot him." I say, trying to comfort my long-time friend. "Contrary to popular belief, by you, I can take care of myself just fine. If I couldn't, I wouldn't be out here." I put on my sunglasses.

"I know, but as you said you're tired." he says, using my words against me. "I'm just concerned is all. How do you feel?"

"Just tired, I might take a nap before I do my paper work." I say and he nods and starts driving for my apartment building. I guess we aren't getting coffee. We don't talking anymore. I mostly just watch the people we pass by. Children, completely innocent and mostly ignorant to what goes on. Adults, terrified of what lurks in the shadows. That's why I do this job, I don't want to let criminals escape and harm innocent people. I know it's unrealistic to think I can catch them all, but it would be nice...

I'm brought back to consciousness by the feeling of someone pulling my keys out of my pocket. I hear a door unlock and I'm moving again. I must've fallen asleep in the car. I feel Will lay me down on my bed. I open my eyes.

"Shh, go back to sleep." He orders. I move to sit up and he pushes me back down, gently of course. "I know for a fact that you need to sleep."

"You do too." I accuse. He looks at me for a moment. "What? You think I don't pay attention to the dark circles under your eyes?" I ask, propping myself up on my elbows.

"Let me go shut the door." He says silently admitting defeat. He exits my room and I hear the sound of the door closing and the lock sliding into place. I also hear him add the chain into the mix. I sit up and untie my shoes and pull them off. They land on the floor with a thud that makes just how tired I am a physical anomaly. Will comes back and takes his own shoes off before laying down next to me. I climb under the covers and turn onto my side. "Sleep well, Maddie." he says before I fall asleep.

_I open my eyes and I'm back at the orphanage I grew up in. that is my first clue that this is in fact a dream. I've been out since I was eighteen and I'm twenty-five now. My body moves as if it's on autopilot and I get up and walk out of the room I shared with a girl named Charlotte. I go straight for the rec room and I sit down. I am waiting on someone, but I have no idea who. This person is familiar to me, but I can't place a name to the face...or memories. He's handsome, that much is obvious. I know I've had this dream before, and I always just sit here the entire time. I should change that. Maybe if I move, the dream will go away. I stand up, met with some resistance by my legs. I push forward. I walk to the door and throw it open. Cold air hits me and snow flurries around. I step out and close the door. I walk down the steps and start walking on the empty snow-covered side walk. That's strange. I remember this street always being busy. I rub my arms to combat the cold. Suddenly, __a jacket is draped around my shoulders. I look over my left shoulder and see Will._

_ "What are you doing here?" I ask, happy to see him, but confused. He just smiles at me and beings to fade away. "No! Will!" I shout, reaching for him, but he's gone. "Will!?" I yell, turning all around, looking for my best friend. I put my arms through the sleeves of his jacket and walk on. I can manage. I'll find him. I reach the end of the street and turn onto another familiar road...though one that I've never seen. I walk up the winding road very cautiously. Eventually, I reach a beautiful mansion. I walk up the massive front steps and knock on the door, and it just opens._

_ "Welcome Miss. Penn." An older man says and I look behind me to see if there is anyone there. "Yes, I'm talking to you, Miss."_

_ "You must be mistaken. My name is Madeline Smith." I say politely. I'm still very confused by this man._

_ "No, you are really Madeline Penn, daughter of Joel Penn and Felicity Morrow." He says and I open my mouth to deny it. "Please just listen Miss, we don't have much time. You will do many great things. You are destined for it." He says. Suddenly, something stabs me._

"Maddie! Wake up! Please wake up!" Will shouts as he shakes me. I gasp and open my eyes. "Are you okay?" He asks, making me focus on him by brushing my hair out of my face.

"What am I doing on the floor?" I ask, my voice is hoarse. "What's going on? Why are you freaking out?" I ask as I sit up.

"Well, firstly you screamed my name, and then you screamed again and started thrashing about. You fell off the bed. What on Earth were you dreaming about?" He asks, observing my reactions.

"It's not important." I say, sounding strange even to myself. He gives me a look. "I'm fine, I promise." I say, offering my pinky.

"Did you have another dream about the dog?" He asks, and I take this opportunity and nod. "I promise you, I will never let another dog harm you." He says seriously, his green eyes boring into mine.

"I know." I say with a small smile. "Are you hungry?" I ask as I get to my feet. "I'm thinking spaghetti." He nods, so I smile again and head to the kitchen. It's nearly seven now, and it was four-thirty when I went to sleep. I didn't realize that I was asleep for that long.

"What are you thinking about?" Will asks as he seats himself at the breakfast bar. I shrug and he gives me his infamous look. If not for our eyes and his accent, he and I could be brother and sister. We have the same blonde hair and other similar facial features. My eyes are a very light blue color, which compared to his eyes look sort of freaky...or photo shopped. They're so bright.. A big difference is height. Will is 6'4'' and I'm 5'2''. We look ridiculous standing side by side. We're both decently muscular, well more than decent really. He just enjoys working out, I must keep my strength up to make up for how small I am. We have similar mannerisms, but only because of how long we've been around each other. It's a rare occasion where we are seen apart. I'm fiercely protective of him and vice verse. It was once brought to my attention that he could possibly be in love with me. I love him, but not _that _way, so it would be sort of awkward. I'm brought out of my thoughts by my house phone ringing. I walk over and answer.

"Hello?" I ask into the mouth piece. Will walks over and stands next to me. No one says anything, must not have heard me. "Hello?" I ask again, a little louder this time.

"Madeline Smith?" A female voice asks. Will and I both raise our eyebrows. Obviously it would be me...this is my house.

"Yes, who is this?" I ask, going back to the stove to stir the pasta. Will follows me, just as suspicious as I am.

"My name is Jennifer Shay, I'm new to homicide. I was told that I could call you for some help." She responds.

"Oh, of course. I have some down time right now. What can I help you with?" I ask, a little less suspicious than before, but still skeptical. I hide this well. I'm only skeptical, because generally homicide forwards them to my cell phone.

"Do you think we could meet up? 815 East Riverside?" She asks and I look to Will. "I was told you have a partner, he's welcome too. I was thinking nine."

"That sounds good. We'll see you then." I say and then hang up. "I'm suspicious." I say as I set the phone down.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one then." He says as he seats himself back at the breakfast bar. I can almost literally see the gears turning in his mind.

"Then again...it could be harmless, but my gut says otherwise. We'll have to be extra careful." I say and he nods his agreement. So much for an easy night at home.

I step out of the nice, warm car and into the cool October air, rubbing my arms for warmth. I shake my head at how familiar this all is because of my dream. Riverside is the name of the orphanage I grew up in. The street is also empty, like in my dream, which is still strange. I guess it could be due to the murder that took place here.

"Maddie?" Will asks, gaining my attention. There's an unasked question in his tone, but I ignore it and just smile at him. I walk around the car and we start walking, looking for Jennifer Shay.

"Detective Smith." A female voice asks, gaining my attention. I turn around and see who I assume to be Shay. "I'm Jennifer Shay." She confirms as she walks over to us. She shakes both of our hands and then moves a strand of her brilliantly red hair out of her face.

"Nice to meet you." I say politely. "So, what's going on?" I ask as she starts leading the way to the crime scene, which ironically is down a dark ally.

"Well, since I'm new, they thought that it would be funny to stick me with a tough case. I was told by an informant that there's a new guy around here and he's my prime suspect." She says and I nod my understanding.

"We've been trying to get information on this guy for a few weeks now. It's like he's invisible or something." I note and Jennifer nods.

"Something isn't right here." Will says as he holds a hand out to stop us. He drops to the ground. "A trip wire." He says and we instantly pull our guns. "This is a signature of his. If I'm right, the moment that wire is tripped, small explosives will go off." Suddenly, something like a shadow drops and knocks Will unconscious.

"Don't move!" I yell, pointing my gun at the now still figure. "Drop the weapon and put your hands behind your head!" He knocks my gun away before I can fire at him. I duck and dodge a blow from his elbow and try to sweep his feet. That doesn't work, so I try to get his bow away from him. Where the Hell is Shay? He punches my right shoulder, and dislocates it. He must've not realized that left is my dominant. I rear back and punch him in the face. He falls like a sack of potatoes, seemingly unconscious. I kick the bow to the other side of the ally. I keep my eyes on him as I go for my gun. The last thing I see before blacking out is whoever the Hell this guy is getting up.

"Her shoulder is dislocated." Jennifer's voice reaches my ears. I open my eyes and sit up. My head spins. "Don't move so fast." She orders. She has a very authoritative voice.

"He got away." I say, sounding absolutely disgusted with myself. How could I have let my guard down like that? Of course he would have back up.

"Madeline, you put up quite the fight. Before I got knocked out, you had him on the defense." She says, attempting to make me feel better.

"That isn't the point. He is a murderer, and I let him get away." I say seriously. "He's made this personal." I move to stand up and gasp at the pain invoked by moving my right arm.

"Let's pop that back into place shall we?" Will says as he gets next to me. "On three." He says, nodding at me. I nod back. "One..." He pops my shoulder back into place.

"Sweet mother!" I gasp, biting my lip to keep from screaming. Will gives me a once over before moving my hair from my face.

"Up we go." He says as he helps me stand. "We'll report the incident and then get back to hunting this guy down." He keeps an arm firmly around my waist as I sway. "Shay, call when you get wherever you're going for the evening. Your office should have our cell phone numbers." He then pretty much carries me off to his car.

"I want to be alone right now. Call Balkov and see if he has anything." I say as I walk into the living room in black yoga pants and a purple tee shirt.

"I don't think I should leave you alone right now." Will says, no doubt baffled by the situation. I know that I am. Nothing like this has happened before.

"I promise I won't do anything stupid." I say, absently going to the kitchen and pouring myself a cup of coffee. "I'm too sore from last night." I say, sitting down in my usual spot. I've been ordered to take a day off anyway. "Please Will..."

"Fine, call me in an hour." He says as he stands up. "Oh, and here." He tosses me a bottle of Aleve.

"Thank you, darling." I say opening the bottle and taking two. "Good luck. Call if you find anything out. I'll be there in five if you need me."

"I know, love. Just take it easy. You're no good to me dead." He says before leaving. Who the Hell could this bastard be? Freaking Robin Hood wannabe asshole. I pick up my drawing pad and begin to work on a sketch. After a little while, my cell phone rings.

"This is Smith." I say as I answer, examining my work so far. I really need to start checking who it is before I answer.

"Detective Smith? It's Jennifer." Jennifer says. "I was calling to see how you were doing." She says, sounding kind.

"My ego took quite the hit and I'm a little sore, but I've had worse. How's the bump on your head doing?" I ask as I go to the window and look out.

"I'm fine. I know that you have the day off, but could I come by your place later?" She asks and I frown.

"I don't think I'll be staying in today. I have a personal thing." I say, keeping my tone perfectly neutral and pleasant.

"Oh alright." She says, immediately backing down. "We can follow my lead up more tomorrow." She says, trying to bait me.

"Sounds good to me. I'll talk to you later." I say and then hang up. I dial Will's number. "Hey Willy, if you go into the office today...see what you can dig up on Officer Shay." I say, acting on my gut. I leave the voice mail, hang up and go to get ready for the day.

"Jimmy, what can you tell me about Joel Penn?" I ask my old friend, taking a sip of my coffee. He looks at me.

"Joel Penn? He was only one of the richest men in the world. He died like...twenty-five years ago. Why? What about him?" He asks, very cautious.

"Nothing, I read the name somewhere." I lie smoothly. "What about Felicity Morrow? Is that name familiar?"

"Well, there was a rumor that Penn was having an affair with her, but it was stamped out pretty quickly. Almost like a cover up or something." He says, rattling off the information. "She died about the same time he did. For the longest time people thought that their deaths were connected, but it's old news now.

"Interesting. Got anything else for me?" I ask with a smile, keeping my motives out of my features. If Will found out I were acting on a dream of mine...

"Only that Balkov's got some bodyguards on you. He caught wind of what happened last night." He says and I sigh. So, the bastard's bragging now?

"Alright, later Jimmy. Thanks." I say and start walking. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. My gut is telling me that somehow, Jennifer Shay is connected to Katniss. There's no way that an officer would let someone else engage a dangerous criminal like that alone. Not unless something was up. Someone runs into me, jostling my right arm. I bite back a yelp and look up at the man. It takes a moment to register, but I recognize him. "Hey!" I yell and he breaks into a run. I drop my coffee and chase after him, pulling my gun. I chase him into an ally, keeping my senses open to other people this time. At the dead end, he's looking for an escape. "Listen here, bastard. You're only leaving here in cuffs, or in a body bag." I say, prepared to kill. "Make your pick." He looks at me, judging what he thinks I'm capable of. He sets down his bow, which I hadn't seen before and kicks it away and stands with his hands raised.

"You caught me." He says, sounding way too confident. "What are you going to do now?" He asks. I take the cuffs I always carry with me out and approach him, shoving him into the wall.

"Well, if you don't shut the Hell up. I'm going to shoot you. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you." I finish reading him his Miranda Rights as I cuff him. "May God have mercy on your soul." I say as I start leading him out of the ally.

"Sorry for not having any mercy on you, sweetheart." He says and then he attacks. He successfully gets his hands in front of him and knocks my gun from my hands before I can respond, and shoot him. He hits me in the face and then he lands a kick to my side and I grab his foot. Ignoring all the pain. I twist it around and throw all of my body weight into him. He hits the ground hard, and I put my knee into the small of his back.

"Don't you fucking move a muscle!" I yell, pushing his shoulders down. I see specks of blood where his face hit the ground. I see a woman walking past. "Excuse me, ma'am?" I call calmly and she looks at me, horrified. "I am a police officer, please call 911." I say calmly. She hangs up on who she was talking to and does as I asked.

"Not today, Sweetheart." He says and throws me off. He takes off running and climbs the building somehow.

"Damn it." I say, slumping against the wall in defeat. How could I let him get away twice. I move to stand up and hiss at the pain in my ribs, if there aren't any broken...I definitely have bruised ribs.

"Officer, are you hurt?" The woman calls to me, her eyes wide with fear. I would be afraid too, if I had witnessed what just went down.

"I'm fine ma'am." I say as I use the wall to push myself up. She rushes over and helps me. "Thank you." I say sincerely. I notice that she's older, maybe late fourties. "I'm sorry, but you'll probably need to stay and give a statement to the officers."

"I understand." She says, remaining calm. That's the first thing that strikes me as strange. I hear the sirens as the police cars arrive, there must be an ambulance too. Two familiar, female officers hop out of the first car to arrive and run over. One leads the woman to their car and opens the back door for her to sit down.

"Jesus, Smith." Officer Riley says as she takes in my appearance. I must look pretty bad. "What the Hell happened?"

"That God damned, Katniss wanna be asshole." I let the angry stream of curse words flow free in the presence of my friend. "Took my cuffs and everything, but I also took something from him." I say, realizing this for the first time. "His weapon and there's blood on the pavement."

"I'll call it in after we get you to the medics." She says as she slides an arm around my waist to support me. In the crowd gathering around, I see a familiar face. The face of the old man from my dream. I shake my head and sit on the back of the ambulance as the medic looks me over. I sit in silence, answering questions when asked. This is getting to my head...the dream thing, and this killer who's gotten away from me twice now. There has got to be a connection somehow...I'm absolutely positive of it now.

"Smith." Mr. Cooper's voice demands my attention and I look up at the commissioner. "I told you to take the day off, did I not?"

"I was following up a personal affair, sir." I say, my voice full of respect for the man who made me. "He ran into me, and I started pursuing him. I know I should have called, but there wasn't any time."

"That much is apparent." He says, then he sits down next to me. "You look like you have something you want to tell me."

"I do..." I say, biting my lip. "I think that there's a correlation between Officer Shay and our criminal." I say.

"We'll talk more about this is my office." He says as he stands up. I look to the medic who nods, giving me my all clear. I carefully hop down, ignoring how tender I am and follow the commissioner to his car. I hop into the passenger's seat and he drives to his office. We head inside quietly and don't say anything until the door is closed. "What are you thinking?"

"What cop do you know who would let another cop take on a criminal all by their self if they could help it?" I ask, sitting down. "Last night when I was fighting against the suspect, she was nowhere to be seen. Also, as far as I could tell it was only the four of us in that ally. Will was even taken by surprise. She has to be working with him." I say, thinking hard to see things that I may have missed. "I don't trust her one bit."

"Well...I guess it's your job then to keep an eye on things." Mr. Cooper says as he sits down behind his desk. "I don't have to tell you to not let her know."

"Of course not...and sir, do you really trust me on this?" I ask, my confidence in my abilities shaken tremendously.

"Madeline, if I didn't trust your gut, you wouldn't be out there and you wouldn't have as much leeway as you do." He answers. "Now this time I'm serious, go home and get some rest before I send over police officers to make sure you do...or worse, William."

"Of course, sir." I say dryly. I stand up, and hold onto the back of the chair for support before heading to the door.

"Officer Riley is waiting to take you home." He says and I smile a bit to myself. "Take care of yourself, kid."

"Always." I say with a nod before heading out. The ride home is quiet and Officer Riley doesn't say anything. What is there to say?

"They started analyzing the blood, and they're dusting the bow for prints." She says out of the blue. "We are going to catch this guy, and when we do...you can knee him in the jewels."

"Oh I plan to...and I hope he resists arrest so I can shoot him in the knee." I say, and she knows that I'm joking. I would never be unnecessarily brutal with anyone. We arrive at my house and I smile at her. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem, take it easy. We need you out there Smith." She says. I nod and climb out. "I mean it." She then drives away. I turn around and head inside.

"Madeline." Will's voice alerts me to his presence. I turn around and face him, a smile on my face and then see that Balkov is with him.

"What the Hell is he doing here?" I ask, ignoring how pissed off he looks. "I'm waiting for an explanation."

"Why don't we have a trade off? You tell me what the Hell you were thinking, and then I'll explain." He says, getting onto my bad side.

"I was following up on something personal and the bastard ran into me, so I pursued him." I say through my teeth. "Your turn."

"Balkov's got some information and I couldn't get through on your cell so I brought him with me." He says, through his teeth as well.

"Now lets all just calm down." Balkov says, trying to mediate us. This is ten kinds of wrong...but what has been right recently?

"Shut up." Will says, looking at him. "Why didn't you call for help? He could have killed you." He says, rage in his eyes.

"He could have killed me twice now! Last night and today! Isn't it suspicious that he hasn't? There is something up." I say, trying to keep calm. Maybe this is what he wants, to make me come undone. "Balkov, what do you have?"

"I wish you'd call me Michael." He says and I glare at him. "Okay, okay. We'll discuss that later. Alright, so a couple of my guys heard him refer to himself as Hawkeye. He was on a cell phone or something."

"Is that it?" I ask, my voice dropping into a tone I use when I'm really frustrated. He holds his hands up.

"Just relax." He says, seeming to actually care. "There's a girl working with him too, they think she's a cop, but they couldn't tell. She's no one that they'd ever seen before."

"It has to be Shay." I say looking to Will. "She's new, she didn't help me last night. She's been trying to get close to me." I sit down, wincing slightly.

"What's wrong?" Will asks as he walks over and lifts my shirt up. He's met with a nasty looking bruise. "What the Hell is that?"

"An escape attempt, from that Robin Hood wanna be. Thank you for giving that Yahoo a strip tease." I say, smacking his hands away and pulling my shirt down. "Would you like a map of all of my injuries?" I ask sarcastically.

"This bastard is going down." Balkov says, his voice going deadly serious. "He's played around long enough.

"For once, I agree with you." I say and he nods, not taking that moment to make a pass at me or anything. I'm kind of proud. "Thank you for looking into him." He nods again.

"Something's off though...if this Shay is working with him...why would they want you?" He asks, his brain working.

"Maybe to get at you...You said that it seems like they're competing with your company?" Will asks, his brain kicking into gear too. "Everyone and their third cousin knows that you're interested."

"I swear to God if that's the only reason he's out to get me, I'm shooting you." I say, glowering at Balkov.

"For my sake...I hope that's not the only reason then." He says, gulping. "Anyway, has anything else happened that you haven't told William about?"

"Not anything of importance." I say and Will glares at me. "Just a strange dream, but what? Are we assuming that people have super powers and the ability to influence dreams now?"

"I should be getting back." Balkov says as he looks at his watch. "I'll continue to dig. I know we're supposed to be enemies and all, but really...take care of yourselves. Life wouldn't be the same if we didn't have our banter." He says and then leaves.

"So, are we not telling each other things now?" Will asks as he sits down across from me. "Maddie...I can't help you if you don't tell me anything."

"Don't talk like I totally depend on you for my sanity." I say, trying to keep my head. I can't let everything get to me. I've been in more stressful situations. "I had an odd dream, and I was looking into a few names today when, what was it, Hawkeye ran into me. I pursued him because he needs to be captured." I say calmly.

"What names?" He asks and I sigh. I wish that he would just let that drop. "I thought you just had that dream about the dog again."

"You're the one who assumed it." I say with a slight shrug. Which I regret, because it hurts. "Will, please don't fight with me. Don't pretend like you tell me every little detail." I sigh.

"I'm not fighting with you. I just want to be able to take care of you to my best ability and if you're keeping things from me..." He says.

"Will, I don't need you to take care of me. I'm a grown woman." I say gently. "We're partners...not caretaker and dependent."

"I have issues with accepting this." Will says, regaining some calm. I know why he has issues with that...he's seen me at my most vulnerable and it haunts him, because he feels like he has to be a hero.

"I know, but it's going to be okay." I stand up, walk over, and hug him. He buries his face in my hair. "Will, you are my family." I say, squeezing him.

"I know...and we're going to get this bastard." He mumbles. "AFTER you get some rest though. You look positively Hell-ish." I roll my eyes, what a goober.

"Where the Hell is he?" I ask very quietly. I look to Balkov who shrugs. "He should have been back by now." I say, starting to get ticked off. It's been two months and Hawkeye still hasn't been captured. I see a figure running and Will hops into the back seat of my car.

"Alright, I got the file. Drive." He orders so I start driving. "Would you like for me to read it aloud?" He asks and I give him a look. "Alright." He opens it and turns on his flashlight. "Dear Mr. Cooper, I am writing in regards to the various death threats that I have received as of late. Joel said that I could look to you for help. In the most recent letter, Madeline has been threatened as well and I fear for the worst. I am asking you to please take care of her if anything happens to me, and to not let her become aware of who she is until the right time. Even right now, I have no clue when that will be. There are many things that you must know to be able to protect her, but I can't write them. We will have to meet and discuss them. Sincerely, Felicity Morrow."

"Madd..." Balkov looks at me and I shake my head, obviously shaken by the letter. "Is that all?" He asks.

"No, there's another. Do you want me to read it?" Will asks and I nod. He opens the letter. "Dear Mr. Cooper, You probably already know this, but Joel is dead. I know that I'm next, and I'm going to drop Madeline off to you on November 13th. This will be her first birthday. I want you to do whatever you think is necessary to keep her safe. I only have two more requests. Please, when she finds out about me and her father, let her know that we loved her very much and that she was the most precious gift that we ever received. The second thing, her middle name is Joelle. Even if she doesn't know it at first, that is her name. Madeline Joelle Penn. Please take care of our baby...she is going to do many great things, and you are the greatest hope that she has. Sincerely, Felicity."

"So...the fantastic things that I'm supposed to do...must be connected with the freaky acrobatic stuff I've been able to do...also the dreams." I say, continuing down the road. "My parents were murdered...that much is obvious, but by who? Is there anything that says?"

"No, and that's all I could find. Do you think that Hawkeye and Shay have something to do with it as well?" Will asks, voicing his thought.

"I think that they have everything to do with it." I say, my voice dropping into a deadly tone. "Even if I hadn't outright been Madeline Penn...I wouldn't have been alone in the world. Felicity seemed like a wonderful woman." I say, afraid of calling her 'mom'. Someone steps into the middle of the road and stays still. I slam on the breaks and stop, just inches before hitting them. I look up and see that it's Hawkeye. I get out of the car. "What do you know about me." I demand, pulling out my gun. Balkov and Will also get out.

"Follow me." Hawkeye says, and starts walking towards a building. The three of us follow, hyper aware of our surroundings. We get inside and he leads the way into an apartment. I see Shay sitting on a couch with a bowl of popcorn. She's obviously surprised. "It's she's figured out who she is, but she thinks that we have something to do with her parents' murder."

"That's not the case at all." Shay says as she stands and walks into the kitchenette and sets the bowl down on the cabinet. "We're here to...recruit you two." She gestures at Will and myself.

"Recruit us?" I ask, keeping my gun ready to fire just in case. "What for? I'm a cop, I'm not going to join some rag-tag team of vigilante douche nozzles." I say, earning a chuckle from Balkov. I stomp on his foot.

"That is a good question, Miss. Penn." An African-American man with an eye patch over his left eye walks in. "Son, get out of here." He says, looking to Balkov. He looks at me and I nod. He tucks his gun away.

"Wait in the car, and I'll drive you back when I'm finished here. It won't take long." I say, my voice demanding that last bit. He nods and walks out.

"My name is Nick Fury. These are Agents Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton. They have been undercover testing you two." Fury says and I feel anger swell within me. "It was their job to test your limits, see how far you were willing to go to catch Agent Barton."

"I must say...there were a few times where I was fearful for my life." Barton says, trying to lighten the mood.

"Good, I'm still ready to shoot you." I say, keeping up the appearance of totally calm. "What the Hell are you wanting to recruit us for?" I ask, this time looking to Fury.

"I'm sure you've heard of The Avengers." Fury says and I nod shortly. Will must nod as well, because he continues. "We want you two in on it."

"Back up." I say, tucking my gun away. "I'm just little orphan Annie with a gun and a badge. You really think I belong in a team of super heros? Will maybe, because his mind is like a computer, but I'm not anything special."

"You're more special than you think, and we've got people who can work with you to hone these skills. As far as William, we could use your mind." He says, looking to my partner. "What do you say?"

"Fine." I say, and he walks over and offers his hand. I shake it firmly. "So, what does that entail?"

"Well, first things first. Turn in your badge and pack your things. You're moving to New York." He says and my jaw drops. I've never left Boston. "Yes, I'm serious." I push my reservations to the back of my mind.

"We'll do it." Will says as he walks up and puts a hand on my shoulder. He reaches around and shakes Fury's hand as well.

"Welcome to the team." Barton says as he walks over and holds out his hand to shake. I take it, pull him into me and knee him in the jewels.

"I caught Katniss." I say and then turn on my heel and walk out. I can hear everyone, but Barton, laughing and I smile to myself. I will figure my life out, and I think that being part of The Avengers will be a big step into that.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey guys! Sorry chapter two has taken so long. I've been busy with school, and I've had severe writer's block. I promise I will try to get back on track with this story though! I really love Maddie's character, but I want to know what you guys think! So please let me know! I can't improve unless I know what needs improvement. It also keeps me going to know that someone has something to say about my story (I would prefer constructive criticism, please don't totally bash me). Anyway, enjoy chapter two! I'm beginning on chapter three post haste! _

Will and I step out of the sleek black car and look up at the building. Stark Tower...I guess one of the members of the Avengers owns it or something like that. Will pulls me into a walk and we enter and walk to the elevator. He puts in a code and the doors open and we step inside. The doors close again and the elevator takes us up to the pent house. A question haunts me...what the Hell is a Stark?

"Security breach! Oh, hello there." A man with a glowing chest says as he walks over. "And who might you be?" He's obviously making an attempt being suave. He's good, but I'm not sold.

"Uh...Madeline Penn, who do you think you are openly checking me out like that?" I say, putting my hands on my hips. Wrong move, this just draws his attention there. "Excuse you."

"You really don't know?" Natasha asks, obviously trying to not laugh. I look at her, really not understanding. "Madeline, this is Tony Stark."

"So does that give him special rights to ogle me or something?" I say and he looks like he's about to say yes. "I swear, if you say yes you won't like me very much."

"Nor will you like me." Will says, totally nailing the over protective big brother role. I chuckle and Stark shifts his attention.

"You're British." He says and I roll my eyes. "And you have fantastic taste in facial hair. What's your name?"

"William Thomas." Will says and Stark shakes his hand. "I'd appreciate it if you would stop checking out Madeline so openly, we quite literally JUST got out of an on going situation where that was common, and it bothers me."

"You were right about Balkov." Natasha says and I nod my agreement. "I guess it worked out for you though."

"Sorry, I didn't know that you two were...Anyway." Stark says and I laugh. He looks at me funny. "What?"

"You misunderstand Mr. Stark. We aren't together, we're just partners and I was orphaned as a small girl so he's the only family that I have." I say with a shrug.

"Well, welcome to Stark Tower Miss. Penn. Mi casa es su casa. Unfortunately, as of right now there's only one spare room available. We're undergoing renovations though, and it should take just a week or so. So..." He looks at me, almost hungrily.

"I don't mind sharing with Will." I say with a shrug. If this were a shojo anime like Charlotte always used to read...he'd be what was it? Oh yeah, sweat dropping. "He's so tiny he doesn't take up very much space at all." I wave a hand in dismissal.

"Didn't you two practically live together anyway?" Barton asks as he enters the room. I shoot a look his way, still somewhat holding a grudge.

"Oh hey look, it's Katniss." I say and he quirks an eyebrow. I quirk mine in return, two can play at this game.

"Really? Are we still doing this?" He asks and I laugh. I'm still mad, of course, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun.

"Of course we are. You're just jealous because you don't have a name for me that would bother me like being called Katniss bothers you. Elementary Watson." I say, faking a British accent. Two more men enter the pent house and I look over. One is Dr. Bruce Banner and the other...gah his name escapes me. "Dr. Banner?" I ask walking over.

"Yeah...uh hi." He says, seeming kind of uncomfortable. "That's me, who are you?" He asks, with a small smile.

"Oh duh, sorry. I'm Madeline Penn and this is William Thomas. I just wanted to say, I'm a big fan of your work. I focused my AP senior paper on your experiments." I say, trying to stay out of fan girl mode. I hear Stark scoff.

"So you know Bruce, but you don't know me? Possibly the greatest thing of your life time?" He asks and I quirk my eyebrow at him.

"Someone's a bit full of himself." I say like I'm talking about a little kid or something. He deflates a little, but then he's back.

"Why don't we take a chance to know each other then? Dinner, eight on the dot, wear something pretty. I'll meet you out here. Good." He says with a winning smile and walks off. My face betrays shock and my hand must search for my gun because Will grabs me up.

"You can't shoot him. One, you don't have your gun. Two, this is his tower." He says, successfully restraining me.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry that he's kind of a jerk sometimes." The other man who entered says in a charming, respectful voice. "I'm Captain Steve Rogers, and it's a pleasure to meet you." I stop struggling and just kind of hang in Will's arms. My feet a few good inches off the floor.

"I'm not going to kill him." I say and look over my shoulder at my idiot. He nods and sets me down. I dust myself off and walk over to Rogers. "It's a pleasure to meet you too. You can call me Madeline...ma'am makes me sound kind of old." I say offering my hand.

"Of course." He says as he shakes my head. "Has anyone ever told you that you have pretty eyes?" He asks and everyone in the room just goes silent.

"Actually, no." I say, surprised by how sweet that was. Am I blushing? My God, I am. Get it together Madd. It does nothing that he's still holding my hand.

"Well, you do." He says with a smile. "It was a pleasure meeting you Madeline." He lets go of my hand and exits the area. What...the Hell was that? I shake my head.

"This is madness." I say and Will gives me a small smile. I return a look that says 'don't do it'. He grins.

"No darling, this is Sparta." He says and I facepalm. "Well, we should probably get settled in." He says and I nod my agreement.

"Your things are already in there, all that's left is for you to unpack." Barton says and I nod. "Oh, and Penn. I really am sorry." He says, looking at me seriously. "If it matters, you handled that better than a normal detective would have."

"So that means that I'm not normal?" I ask, looking at him warily. Dr. Banner clears his throat and I look at him.

"Not normal, extraordinary. We all bring a little something to the table." He says and I smile at him. "I could show you guys to your room." He offers.

"That would be great, thank you Doctor." I say and he leads the way to the elevator and we step in and he hits a button. This 'new' life is going to be very interesting.

"So, you really aren't going to dinner with me?" Stark asks through the door. He knocks again. "Hello? Madeline?"

"No, I am not going to go to dinner with you." I say, trying to not be irritated. It's not entirely his fault that all his life no one ever told him no. "Maybe if you'd asked me, instead of just saying that we were going."

"I did ask you." He says and I walk over and open the door. He's leaning against the wall. He stands up straight and looks down at me. "What if I asked you now?" He asks and I lean against the door in an 'I'm waiting...' manner. "Madeline, would you accompany me to dinner?"

"Fine, give me a minute." I say before going back into the room and closing the door. Will looks at me questioningly. "It's not like I'm going to have sex with him." I say as I go to the closet and grab one of the only fancy dresses I won. It's a pretty, peach color. I grab my strapless bra and step into the bathroom and change. I pull my hair into a pretty up-do and add a small amount of makeup. I walk out and step into my silver glitter heels. In actuality they were a joke from Officer Riley, but they go well with the outfit.

"You look nice. Have fun, and remember you're values." He says and I roll my eyes. I wave as I throw my cell phone and wallet into a small silver clutch. I grab my silver shawl, wrap it around my shoulders and open the door again.

"Wow, you look fantastic...and that only took five minutes." Stark says as he offers me his arm. "Most women I know would take at least twenty to get that."

"Thank you." I say, taking his arm. He leads the way to the elevator and we go down to the ground level where some fancy car is waiting. "Wow..." I say before I can stop myself, it's such a pretty car though.

"You want one? I can get it for you." He asks and I shake my head. "Suit yourself, come on." He says before opening the passenger's side door for me. I walk over and step in. He closes the door and gets into the driver's seat. "So, what do you do for fun?" He asks as he starts driving.

"Well...I didn't really go out much. I didn't really do much outside of work." I say, wracking my brain for hobbies. "I sound like a loser, but I promise I'm a hoot and a half."

"I didn't question that." He says, his eyes holding amusement. "We'll fix that though, you should come to the grand opening of this new bar on Saturday."

"Sounds like fun." I say with a smile. "Thank you for asking me." I say, hinting at my preference to being asked things, not told. He nods. I then realize, I'm an idiot. "You probably regret asking me out, don't you?"

"No, to be honest this is my first time out in a little while." He says, playing the honesty card with me. I nod my appreciation. "Bad break up..."

"Ah, I wouldn't know what that's like...I've never been in a relationship." I say with a slight shrug.

"Really? Now that is surprising." He says, glancing at me. "William had said something about some guy checking you out all the time? What about him?"

"He's a criminal, but a good informant. So pretty much...Will would go in, ask questions, and then I'd go in turn him into putty and get all the answers." I explain. "Towards the end of the Hawkeye case...and in figuring out my true identity...he was actually helpful as a colleague."

"You seem thoughtful, do you have feelings for him or what?" He asks and I quirk an eyebrow at him. "Well?"

"No...I could never love someone who employs people to hurt others. Even from a young age I couldn't stand that." I say, rubbing my arms for warmth. Without saying anything, Stark turns on the heat. "Thanks."

"No problem. You're more noble than I am...it took seeing terrorists in action to get me to want to actually help people instead of just creating weapons to help people kill each other." He says and I think on that.

"Well...at least in the end you decided to help people, and Dr. Banner told me you saved Manhattan from a nuc." I say, thinking of all the redeeming things Dr. Banner told me about him.

"Looks like someone did their homework on me." He says, getting that overconfident smirk on his face again.

"Ah, no. Dr. Banner just told me your redeeming qualities so that I wouldn't seek out a gun and shoot you." I say, the realist in me jumping out to play.

"I have a question. You really had no idea who I was?" He asks, looking at me full on. I look around and see that we're at a nice restaurant.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't." I say, being honest. "I probably should have, but if it didn't have anything to do with my Boston...I didn't pay attention."

"That's alright..." He says, but it seems to not be. "It's probably better for me that you haven't heard of me."

"You should never say something like that to a detective. We're fond of homework, and there isn't much that anyone can hide from us." I say, attempting to be fun.

"That sounds like a challenge to me." He says as he gets a glimmer in his eyes. "Well, prepare for flash photography." He says as he gets out and hands his keys to the valet before walking around and opening my door for me. I step out and am dazzled by the various flashes going off. He leads me inside and I blink many times to try and regain my vision. "Hello there, Stark for two." As soon as the host looks up, he goes into instant 'I'm here to please you' mode. He leads us to a secluded table and leaves us with our menus.

"Well...this is probably the most...expensive restaurant I've ever eaten at." I say as I glance it over. I spot something that I've at least heard of and decide to order that.

"Really? I thought you were daughter to Joel Penn, one of the richest men in the world." He says as he looks at me.

"Little orphan Annie." I say, gesturing to myself. "I didn't know that I was, quote unquote, 'loaded', until a few weeks ago." I explain, laughing a little.

"Little orphan Annie...hmmm nah. You look better as a blonde." He says and I shrug again. "So, wow you're buff for a girl." He says, observing me.

"Sexist." I say with a laugh. "Okay, so think of Will's size and natural buff-ness. Add that into a cold hearted criminal and then stick me next to him and see how defenseless I look."

"Hmmm...touche." He says with an appreciative nod. "So, how do you keep up on that? The whole buff girl thing?"

"Well...this so isn't something I'm used to talking about." I say, shaking my head. "Anyway, I wake up at six-thirty every morning and work out for an hour. On Wednesdays, I go for runs. Also, being on the job keeps me in pretty good shape. It'll be hard getting used to not having to be on a case all the time." I internally smack myself. "Let's not talk about my regime though...tell me something about yourself."

"Ah, the question that has everyone thinking to themselves, 'who am I?'." He says, resting his chin on his hand. "Let's see...I like blueberries." He says and I can't help but giggle.

"That's very deep Mr. Stark, shall we look deeper into the meanings of those words?" I ask, totally joking. "I'm kidding...I expected something more along the lines of, 'Uh, I'm Tony Stark, king of Awesomeland'. Or something to that effect."

"That would be High King of Mt. Awesome." He says with that attractive smirk. I roll my eyes. "Well, if you're going to be sarcastic, get it right."

"My apologies Your Majesty." I say playfully. "Blueberries are good though...especially in muffin form."

"Food in general is good." He agrees with a nod. "Speaking of which, have you decided what you're getting?"

"Yeah, have you?" I ask in return and he nods. I smile. Maybe...Tony Stark isn't as bad as what my first impression of him was. After all...shouldn't we give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes? I mean, he's an Avenger...what could possibly go wrong?

"So, I decided to change my approach. She's the kind of girl who doesn't fall for the over-confident thing. I imagine it'll only be a few days before I score." Tony says to Barton, clearly not noticing that I've entered the room. Barton looks like he could throw up, knowing very well where my temper can take me.

"Score?" I ask, more hurt than anything. So that's all I am to him? "Well, there won't be any of that." I say before turning on my heel and heading back towards the elevator. Wow...for a smart person, I'm pretty dumb. Natasha told me about his track record, but I actually kind of found him appealing. I ignore his pleas for me to stop and press the button. The doors open and I run smack into Steve's chest. "Sorry." I say, keeping my head down to conceal my emotions, as I step into the elevator. He turns right around and walks back in and presses the button to close the doors.

"Madeline? What's wrong?" He asks, pressing the button to stop the elevator. NCIS much? I just shake my head. "You're as pale as a sheet and you look like you're going to cry." He points out. I glance up at him.

"It doesn't matter, I was just kind of stupid." I say, shrugging slightly. "My first judgment was that he was no good and to just stick to my 'Hell no' answer to begin with, but then the part of me who wants to have faith in humanity said 'Give him a chance, it's not like you're getting married'. So I went with that and I thought that he was interested in me for my intellect, not just what I have to offer, if you catch my drift." He gently wipes away a tear.

"Don't lose faith in all of humanity just because of one guy who doesn't respect you for the brilliant person you are." He says, smiling at me.

"Most of the men attracted to me in my life are attracted by my physical appearance and not what I can bring to a conversation." I sigh.

"Well, I'm interested to see what you have to offer in a conversation. Why don't you and I go watch a movie?" He asks and I smile.

"Sure, I can help you get caught up. We can watch M*A*S*H. It's a really good movie about a mobile army surgical hospital, of course, and well, I've seen the show about it, but never the movie so now's a good time to I guess." I say with a shrug, then I think. "Unless you don't want to watch a war movie...I'd completely understand. We could always pop in...Pirates of the Caribbean or something."

"It's fine...the first one sounds like a good movie." He pushes the button again and we head to a recreational floor. He leads the way to an entertainment room and I raise my eyebrows at how plushy the room is. The chairs all look like I could get lost in them. "Jarvis? Could you please play the movie M*A*S*H for Miss. Penn and I?"

"Right away, sir." Jarvis' programmed voice says and the movie begins on the screen. The Captain and I sit down.

"So...Thor is part of the initiative? Right?" I ask and he nods. "How do you feel about gods actually existing?" I ask. I grew up in a Christian environment and the thought of there being more than just one is kind of crazy to me.

"Well, I still believe that there's only one God, but Thor is very crucial to the team." He responds, looking at me.

"I feel ya there...I'm trying to be more open to the idea, but it just seems strange." I say and he smiles his agreement. We settle in and watch the movie.

When I reach the penthouse, all is quiet and dark. I step out of the elevator cautiously and feel the wall for a light switch. Of curse there isn't one, this is Stark Tower.

"Uh, Jarvis could you turn on some lights?" I ask, remember that's generally how things get done around here.

"Of course, Miss. Penn." His voice responds and I start unbuttoning my black pea coat as the lights turn on.

"Surprise!" Everyone yells as they jump out of hiding. I jump back. "Happy birthday!" The chorus.

"It's...not my birthday though." I say, trying to restart my heart. "It was like two weeks ago." I keep my cool.

"We know, that's why we're celebrating now." Steve says as he walks over to me, a small package wrapped in plain blue paper in hand. He puts it in my hands.

"Thank you guys." I say with a small smile. I carefully tear back the paper and open the box. I a delicate silver cross...I look up at him.

"A replacement...for the one that you lost." He says and tears spring to my eyes. I told him how my cross that I was given before I moved out on my own. "I know it isn't the same, but I hope you like it."

"Steve, it's perfect." I say, taking it out of the box. He takes it from me and I hold my hair out of the way as he puts it on me.

"There, you're a good Christian yank once more." Will says with a smile. I lightly punch his arm.

"You're a citizen here too, British ass munch." I say and he just ruffles my hair. "So, is there a cake?"

"What's a party without a cake?" Tony asks and I just offer a small smile and follow Natasha to the table in the dining area. I'm angry with him, but I guess I'm more hurt than anything.

"Please, no candles." I say and my wishes are totally ignored and twenty-five candles are placed in the cake and they sing to me. I roll my eyes and blow them out.

"Happy birthday, ducky." Will says, using my favorite word. Ducky just sounds so cool when in a British accent.

"Yes, now cut the cake. It's been a long day." I say, tired and a little irritable. "I want to work out some before I go to sleep."

"You're not working out today." Will says, his voice final. I put my hands on my hips and look up at the giant. "Yes, you heard me right. You are going to relax and have fun. Even if that means we have to keep you here by force."

"Why can't I be allowed to do what I want? I'm a grown woman." I say, stamping my foot. He looks at me, clearly amused.

"Everyone needs to have fun sometimes." Dr. Banner says as he hands me a plate with cake and ice cream on it. It's my favorite, superman. I smile at him.

"Penn." Fury's voice alerts us to his presence. I turn around and look up at him. "It's a requirement that new agents get tracking devices." He says.

"But...oh. I'm and agent now?" I ask and he nods. "Alright, darn...looks like no fun for me after all." I say with a snap.

"You'll be back. Thomas, you need to come too." Fury says as he turns to Will who just nods. "You can finish your cake though."

"Thank you, sir." I say as I walk over to Dr. Banner who's still cutting the cake. He hands me a plate and I give it to Fury. Everyone eats in silence. "This is good cake..." I note, trying to start some conversation.

"I'm glad you like it. My private chef made it this morning." Tony says and I just nod and smile again. That's my go-to response when I want to be civil, but I don't want to talk. Will looks between me and him.

"Stark, what did you do?" He asks and I give him a deadly look. He gives me a look as well. I change mine to a 'don't you dare' look and he raises his eyebrows. My look then changes to 'don't worry about it'. He then gives me the 'we _will_ talk about this later' look and I roll my eyes in acceptance.

"They really just had an entire conversation through facial expressions." Dr. Banner says, amused. "Tony just said something that he shouldn't have, which is common. Currently, he doesn't know how to make it right."

"Thank you for the cake and surprise party everyone. Will, are you ready?" I ask, looking to him. He takes the last bite of his cake, takes my plate and puts them in the kitchen.

"Yes. Director Fury?" Will says, looking to the man, who hands his plate off to Natasha. He nods and we leave. "What did he say?" Will asks once we're in the sleek black car. I pretend to be occupied with the scenery. "Maddie."

"He was only trying to get in my pants, Will. Okay?" I bark, and will looks deadly. Not towards me though, towards Stark.

"Is Stark going to be a problem?" Fury asks seriously. I shake my head. "Are you sure? We can find somewhere else to house you and Thomas."

"Michael Balkov is an even more shameless flirt than Stark is." I say, crossing my arms across my chest. I get to thinking...Will must have thought that Tony genuinely liked me too. I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid.

"Listen Mittens, I'm telling you. It doesn't work that way. I don't care where you graduated from. I'm pretty sure they don't teach this stuff there." I say with a roll of my eyes.

"Mittens? What's that supposed to mean?" He asks, trying to give me the gift again. "Come on Madeline..."

"Mittens, I'm referencing the college you went to. MIT..." I say and he grins. "Oh quit patronizing me, Stark. Aren't you trying to apologize?"

"I am apologizing. I'm sorry, accept the gift and come to the movie premier with me." He says, trying again to put the box in my hands.

"I don't want to." I say, pushing the box back towards him. "Look Tony, we have two completely different ideas on things. If someone is interested in me, that's perfectly okay. I don't want to be someone's fuck buddy though. That's not me." I explain. "I want a relationship, not a one hit wonder."

"I'll change your mind." He promises confidently. I roll my eyes "I'm kidding, just kidding." He says setting down the box. "Look," He starts, taking my hands. "give me just one more chance. I'll prove that I'm not just some...what was it? Horny, play boy, whatever."

"Someone was eavesdropping." I note, trying to delicately free my hands. "I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised...this is your tower."

"Indeed it is, but I want you to see it as a home too. Come on, how about you and I grab some ice cream from the kitchen and watch a movie?" He says with a winning smile.

"Sorry, I'm working out with Katniss and Natasha today." I say, taking my hands back. "Maybe some other time." I say, knowing very well that I'm not going to let myself be alone in a dark theatre-like room with him. I'm not stupid.

"I'll join you guys." He says, leaving no room for argument. Who am I to discourage someone from physical activity? "I'll walk you to your room." He says, and we start walking.

"Alright, I'll see you in the gym." I say as we reach my door. I enter and change into my favorite sweats and my sports bra and braid my hair. I put on my sneakers and head to the gym. Natasha and Barton are already in there. "Hey Nat, we were supposed to spar." I remind her and she smiles. We step into the ring. "I'll go easy on you."

"Yeah right, the day you go easy on me is the day you lose your mind." She says and we start. Natasha and I are pretty evenly matched. It's almost like we anticipate each others next move, which gets annoying when you're trying to take someone down. Patience is something that is important...especially if you're technically a spy now.

"Wow...if you're this fierce in the ring, imagine in bed." Tony's voice distracts me and Natasha knocks me down. She tries to get me into a sleeper hold and I throw an elbow. I accidentally get her in the neck and she coughs and lets go. I move quickly and roll her onto her stomach, securing her hands and putting my knee in the small of her back.

"It's been a while since I've subdued someone." I note offhandedly. "I don't remember it being this easy..."

"Maybe you've just gotten better." She suggests, then she moves. She knocks me off of her and then tries to pin me. I roll away and stand up.

"Or you're trying to lull me into a sense of false security." I say, locking into concentration mode. "You're a very formidable opponent Natasha...more so than Katniss over there." I joke. "He wouldn't have gotten me the first confrontation if you hadn't interfered."

"I was wondering if you'd figured that out. It was kind of stupid to go out the next day with your shoulder in that condition." She says, we're circling each other now.

"I've been in worse situations...like once I took down a punk with a bullet in my hip. Bullets hurt worse than dislocated shoulders." I say with a slight shrug.

"Don't I know it?" Nat says and then she starts attacking, with more vigor this time. I don't hold back. I drop into a crouch and sweep her feet, she falls and grabs me. We roll three times before she ends up beneath me. I twist her arm, and put her into an inescapable position. I've got her.

"I think we have a winner." Barton says as he climbs into the ring. I stand up and help Natasha up.

"You okay?" I ask her and she nods, not seeming to be upset by the fact that I beat her. "Good...sorry about the elbow to the neck. It was really an accident."

"No problem, there are worse things." She says and I nod my agreement. "Besides, I got in some good hits too. We're square."

"After watching that fight, I'm afraid to go up against you." Steve says and I suppress my blush. I hadn't noticed him watching.

"Well, I'm afraid to go up against you. You're way out of my league...with all your super soldier stuff." I admit.

"I'm not any better than you are, it's all about dedication and it's easy to see that you're dedicated." He says and I shrug, climbing out of the ring.

"Great job in there, kid. I almost believed that you're vicious." Tony says as he walks over to me. I raise my eyebrow at him.

"You've obviously never had her smash your face against the ground, telling you to not 'move a fucking muscle'." Barton says and I laugh.

"I was upset...You were making my world fall apart and I had you...and...oh like you've never watched Cops. We get a little over-excited." I admit, rolling my eyes.

"I'll say...well Nat, you still up for that run?" He asks her and she nods. They walk off together. I watch after them for a moment.

"If they say there's nothing going on between them...I'm calling bull shit." I say, grabbing the bottled water offered to me by Tony.

"You, me, and everyone else in this tower." He says and I nod. I head over to the punching bag. "You, uh, want someone to hold that for you?" I tape up my hands.

"No, it's cool. You can go ahead and do whatever you want." I say and then begin my workout. I close out everything and focus on working out my stress and frustration. My history in taking kick boxing comes out and I let loose.

"Whoa whoa whoa! That's enough there!" Steve says as he picks me up to stop me. Tony's there too, looking slightly concerned. I attempt to start relaxing but I can't. "Just relax...it's okay." Steve says in a calming voice.

"Jarvis, start a bath for Miss. Penn in her room." Tony orders and Jarvis confirms. "You need to take a break." He says, looking at me seriously.

"I'm fine." I say, still panting. "I'm still standing, aren't I?" I ask, and Steve doesn't let me go...it's almost as if he doesn't trust me to not fight him.

"Tony, can we have a moment?" Steve asks and he nods and walks away, a certain irritated air about him. "Look...I know what it's like to be frustrated...to have everything you know questioned." He says setting me down and turning me to face him. "You're more...fragile than I am, so you can't push yourself like this. One, you just had something surgically implanted in your leg. Two, you should talk to someone."

"You didn't grow up thinking that no one wanted you or loved you." I say bitterly. "You weren't an orphan. Both of my parents are dead, and they didn't want me to know about who I am until the threat was on me. There is someone out for me now, and I need to be able to handle that threat." A lump forms in my throat. "I never got to meet them..." My voice is barely a whisper.

"Well, I can say that you are loved Madeline. Will loves you and your parents loved you too. That's why they died...protecting you. You protect what you love." He says, making me look at him.

"Then how come I always feel so alone?" I ask, my voice still small. I close my eyes and almost shyly, he hugs me.

"We all have low points...and at those times, we need people to help us know that we aren't alone. You're not alone here, you've got me, Barton, Natasha, Will, Dr. Banner, and even Tony even though he's a jerk ninety-nine percent of the time." He says gently. I laugh.

"You're too kind Steve Rogers." I say shaking my head. "You're right though..." I say, even though I don't really believe it. I'm going to have to do something in the future...and it may be the end of me. I give him an assuring smile, and only Will would be able to tell that it was fake. He returns the smile.

"Alright, now why don't we get you back to your room so you can take that bath?" He asks and I nod and allow him to help me.

"Michael, you're hired." I say, shaking the hand of my new personal assistant. "Now, I need to make an appearance into society. It needs to be big, and flashy."

"Well, Miss. Penn. This Saturday there is a charity ball. Very prestigious. Very flashy." He says, looking through a small book.

"Make it happen. What's the average donation for this ball?" I ask as we begin to walk. He looks into his book again.

"How steep are you willing to go, Miss. Penn?" He asks me and I give him a somewhat cheeky smile.

"Money isn't an issue, Michael, just make the appropriate donation and fill me in later. Now, I just need a dress. I don't want anything that's too revealing. Also...hmm score a story. I trust you to come up with something good. Don't elaborate too much, I want to talk to the reporters myself." I say as I reach my new car.

"Right away, Miss. Penn. How about I stop by later with details?" He asks and I smile and nod. "Alright, I'll bring coffee too. How do you take it?"

"I'm a simple gal, french vanilla cappuccino." I say as I hit the unlock button. "See you then, and thank you." I climb in and he waves and I drive off. I pull up to Stark tower where the enthusiastic valet opens my door for me.

"Welcome home, Miss. Penn. Mr. Stark has requested that you go to his office on the tenth floor." He says as I step out.

"Of course, thank you." I say and then enter. I walk to the elevator and press the button. I walk out of the elevator and head to Tony's office. I knock on the door.

"Come in." Tony calls. I open the door and walk in. He's concentrating on something. "Oh, Madeline. How are things?" He asks, not looking up at me. I don't say anything and he finally does. "Whoa..."

"It's a new look...yeah." I say. I've changed a lot...a new haircut...new clothes. I've never been one for heels on a normal basis. I'm dressed in dark jeans with a maroon tunic style shirt. I look very put together and well to do. It's all part of my plan though.

"So, I heard that you're making your first public appearance as Joel Penn's daughter at the charity ball this Saturday." He says, getting straight to business. I quirk my eyebrow at him. "I haven't even said anything yet."

"You're all business. I thought that wasn't your style." I say, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. He smiles at me, that winning smile.

"It usually isn't, but I can be serious sometimes." He says, almost like he's trying to prove himself to me. He shakes his head. "Anyway, you'll need a date for that. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me." He thinks for a moment. "Of course it's purely publicity, you'll get a lot of it for being my date."

"Of course..." I say with a nod. "Alright, I'll be your date. Don't expect any funny stuff." I say with a smile.

"Oh, I can dream it though." He says, and I roll my eyes. "So how did the whole personal assistant hunt go? Find someone useful? A girl to swap girly stories with over coffee?"

"Well, Michael isn't necessarily someone I'd swap girly stories with, but he seems to understand my position so far. He's the one who suggested the charity ball. How did you find out about that by the way? It can't have been decided more than...fifteen minutes ago." I say and he raises his eyebrows.

"A guy? I didn't know that guys were personal assistants..." He says and I raise my eyebrows, silently asking if he's jealous. "Must be gay." He says as he looks over something. I laugh. "Anyway, I know everything. It's my job. I kind of look out for everyone around here. It's kind of a big deal. You know, I could have found you a good assistant."

"Thank you, Tony, but I'm capable of figuring out a good match for me. I'm also capable of being feminine. You think someone helped me pick out my new look?" I ask with a laugh. "Girls were the only people I associated until high school."

"That's old fashioned...Wait a minute. I didn't say that you couldn't be feminine. Where did you get that idea?" He says, looking at me.

"It was my job to see things that people didn't say." I say with a slight smile. "It was just more important to me to be seen as a threat before being seen as a woman. We aren't taken as seriously."

"I'm curious." He says, resting his chin in his hand. "Why did you grow your hair out so long?" He asks.

"I wasn't allowed to grow it out as a little girl, so I have an aversion to short hair now." I explain. "Any other questions?"

"What made you want to become a detective?" He asks, seeming to be legitimately curious about it.

"I saw a lot of injustice, and it bothered me." I say looking him in the eye. "I wanted to make the streets safe for children. Surprisingly, Balkov agreed that we needed to stop petty crime. I detest organized crime...but there are times where he's taken disgusting criminals off the street."

"You seem like you think of him as a friend. That's interesting. Last time I heard, I thought that you hated him." He says, really almost seeming jealous.

"Like I said, he's taken some disgusting criminals off the street...and organized crime is what allowed me to discover who I am. He supplied us with the information and we busted the Mariotti family's drug ring. There were maybe three people left at HQ, making it child's play for Will to get into Cooper's office to borrow the necessary files. I would have gotten them myself, but Will and I had a...minor disagreement." I say, thinking back to the fight. I'd climbed out onto the fire escape, and the next thing I noticed I was falling. Will didn't push me...no one did...I don't know what happened. "I should probably let you get back to work. Michael's coming by later so we can discuss some things."

"Of course, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask Jarvis." He says, seeming to snap out of whatever it is he was under.

"Right, thanks." I say standing up. His guard is coming back up. I wonder what has him so guarded. He did mention a bad break up. I make a mental note to look into that more. I walk out of the office and go straight to the elevator. I head up to the top floor where mostly everyone is. Dr. Banner is even taking a break from work. I go to the kitchen and grab a bottle of water. I head back out into the living area and sit down. "Has anyone seen Will?" I ask, trying to sound offhanded.

"He left a little while after you did. He didn't say where he was going, but he asked me to tell you he'd be home by midnight." Dr. Banner says and I smile. I know that means he won't be home tonight, though. "How was assistant hunting?"

"Ah, I was quite bountiful." I say with a nod. "His name is Michael Matthews, he's a Manhattan native, and he's quite knowledgeable of the social scene here. I'm making my debut this Saturday at a charity ball on the arm of Mr. Stark." I say, earning the eyebrow raise of everyone in the room. "He asked me, claiming that it was purely publicity. I agree that it will be good for the public awareness on Joel Penn's daughter, but I think that there's something more behind it." I then shake my head. "Sorry, I'm still learning to keep my hunches quiet. My Holmes usually put up with it and shut me up when it was too much, but recently he's been too good for good ol' Watson."

"That's alright, we think that something's up with Tony too." Natasha says, coming to sit with the good doctor and myself. "What's your hunch?"

"I don't think it's wise to discuss that here." I say and she nods her agreement. I take my notepad out of my purse and begin writing. She reads my theory about it having something to do with Tony's ex and nods. She passes it to Bruce who also nods. Steve walks over and puts a hand on my shoulder as he reads. "Where's Katniss?"

"He's away on some business, but he should be back tomorrow night." Natasha answers and I give her a cheeky smile. She gives me a light shove and I wag my eyebrows at her. I laugh, feigning cheerfulness.

"Alright, well I should warn you that Stark's in an odd mood. He was very down to business." I say as I stand up. "I'm probably going to work out some and then some research if you need me." I say and Steve looks at me.

"We'll call if we do." Bruce promises and I start walking to the elevator. Steve follows me. Once inside, he stops the elevator again.

"You know, I'm going to have to introduce you to NCIS." I say, still in my cheerful voice. He gives me a look. "Oh alright, don't play along then. See if I care." I say, going into pout mode. If I can't fool him with my cheerfulness, I'll try a different approach.

"Madd..." He starts and I sigh. He stops, almost as if he's waiting for me to say something. When I don't, he continues. "What's going on?"

"I'm worried about Will." I say, going with the honest approach. He isn't going to let it drop. It's not in his nature. "He said that he'd be home by midnight, but I know that he won't be."

"Hey, he'll be okay." He says, offering me a smile. I return it slightly. "Thanks for being honest with me."

"If I weren't honest with you now, you wouldn't have let it go." I say and he shrugs slightly. "We got dealt a strange hand, didn't we?"

"Well...we can make the most of it. Why don't you run your big plan by me again?" He asks and I sigh and go over and get the elevator moving again.

"I need to work out, so you'll have to tolerate that while I tell you." I say and step out of the elevator. He follows.

"Alright, I'll meet you back here in five." He promises and goes to his room. I head to my own room and change into a plain tee shirt and sweats and put on my sneakers. I pull my hair into a pony tail and then add a headband to keep the loose pieces out of my face. I meet Steve at the elevator and we go to the gym.

"Alright...so the plan." I say as I step onto the tread mill. I set it up and begin jogging. "So, I need to draw out whoever it is that's after me. The idea is that I'm going to make a huge spectacle of myself. Of course I'm always going to be packing somehow." I say with a slight shrug. "It's insulting, but Fury has requested that I have a security detail. It should make my importance seem greater though."

"It's a simple plan, but even simple plans can go wrong. Please just be careful." He says and I look at him. He looks genuinely worried about me.

"Steve...sometimes you can't be careful." I say and that doesn't help his worry. "Insane courage is what must carry us sometimes."

"Yeah, but there's a fine line between courage and stupidity. Just keep yourself alive is all I'm asking." He says and then he goes to the punching bag. When you piss America off...well you know that something must not be right. What are you getting yourself into Maddie?


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey guys! Thank you so much to the people who have reviewed, you have revamped my confidence! Now, I'm going to need your help on this chapter. I sort of like where I went with it, but I'm still not totally confident in it, so let me know what you think! I can't get better unless you tell me what I need to work on. So...that's it for this note you probably don't read, so enjoy the chapter! I'll try to get chapter 4 up ASAP! _

"Doctor, I'm sorry..." I say, backing away from the edge of the platform. My brain is screaming at me to not jump. It's dangerous. I look down at the ground and see Steve and Dr. Banner standing off to the side. They elected to come with me for...moral support. I haven't seen Will and it's been way too long.

"Miss. Penn, you need to test out what you can do." Dr. Bishop says as he looks up at me. I take another look over the edge.

"Don't think about it, just do it." Steve offers. I look to him and he gives me an encouraging smile. This thing is the equivalent to five stories. That could kill me if I don't land properly. I should even be able to jump from five stories and land properly. I close my eyes and just run and jump. I fall through the air and reflexively, I position myself and land on my feet in a position where I could push off and continue running.

"Good, now lets try it without the crash pad." Dr. Bishop says and I look at him like he's crazy. "You did so well just now, don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid." I say, determination taking hold. "So after the whole suicidal jump thing what's on the agenda?" I ask as I walk over to them so that the helpers can take the crash pad away.

"Well, after we finish this we want to get you in for a CAT scan...see what's going on upstairs. Then we want an X-ray." He explains and I sigh. I hate the hospital stuff. Steve walks over and gently massages my shoulders as Bishop walks away. They're really tense.

"Stark called Bruce. Will is back." He says and I feel some of my tension go away. "He's a little bloodied up." The tension returns.

"I need to get out of here then. I'll do the jump, but I'm skipping the medical stuff." I say with a tone of finality. I walk up to Bishop. "I can't stay for the CAT scan and X-ray, duty calls."

"Alright, we'll get that tomorrow. If you'll just do the jump you can get out of here." He says and I nod. I didn't expect it to go that well. I step onto the lift and I'm taken to the top. I don't give myself time to second guess and just run off the edge. I land and then jog over to my things. I pull on my coat.

"See you tomorrow, Doc." I say and then collect my friends and we exit the building. A familiar car pulls up and we climb into the back. I should have known that Tony would send the car as soon as he called...it's funny how well he has figured out my habits concerning Will. I clench my fists and plant my feet to keep from showing how antsy I am. "Thank you guys for coming with me..." I say as I look to them.

"You know I never mind coming to something for you." Dr. Banner says with a small smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I landed a bit too hard...my feet are all tingly. It was more controlled though, then when I fell off the fire escape." I say without thinking.

"Excuse me?" Steve asks, looking at me horrified. "When did that happen?" He demands, using a voice that he no doubt uses when he's in the battle field environment.

"No one pushed me." I start off, trying to put him at ease. "Will and I had a minor disagreement and I went out onto the fire escape to cool down...and before I realized what was going on, I fell." I explain. "It was wild and I flailed a lot, but I landed on my feet." My cell phone vibrates from within my coat pocket. I answer. "Hello?"

"Maddie...I know I just got back, but I'm leaving again. Please don't worry, it's nothing huge. I can't exactly tell you what it is just yet, but I will try to be home by tomorrow night." Will's voice calmly explains before the line disconnects.

"He's...leaving again." I say, trying to determine what he's doing...I know it's going to be hard though. If Will doesn't want someone to know something, they aren't going to find out.

"It'll be okay." Steve promises. "Most likely, Fury's got tabs on him." I highly doubt that...Will is good.

"Yeah, they found me in Calcutta and they even kept other people from finding me. He's probably the safest he's ever been working." Dr. Banner says and I offer a small smile, trying to keep my head. We pull up to Stark Tower and I get out of the car and walk with purpose inside. Steve and the good Doctor keep pace with me. We get on the elevator and I know that it's obvious that this is killing me. I see that Will is still here and I walk right over to him. He really is bloodied up. Worse then I thought he would be.

"You aren't leaving this building until you tell me what the hell is going on." I say, my tone taking on authority.

"I can't tell you." He says, looking up at me from where he's sitting. "Please just let it drop, Maddie."

"I can't do that." I say simply. He stands up, towering over me. I hold my ground, because no one has intimidated me in a very long time. There's only one way I'm going to get the information out of him, and sadly it involves force. "We're responsible for one another. When you leave and don't come back for a few days, bloodied up nicely, I'm going to worry and I'm going to expect you to tell me what you are working on."

"Maddie...don't do this. You and I know that this won't end well." He says and I feel Steve and Dr. Banner's tension.

"Why don't you and I talk in our room?" I suggest, appearing to be more calm and less apt to fight. Will's posture relaxes too.

"Alright." He says in his usual tone. I link my arm with his as I usually would and we go to the elevator. We go to our room and he goes about changing, not saying a word.

"Will." I say once to get his attention. "You've taken on cases before and they've gotten a bit crazy. This is more than a bit. If you need my help, I will help you."

"That's just the thing. I don't need your help." He says, his voice sounding slightly cruel to my ears. That's probably because it was a low blow. "Now, you're going to let me walk out of here and I'm not going to have to hurt you."

"It's a nice notion." I say, tossing my coat aside and taking up a stance in front of the door. "The only way you're leaving this room is if I'm unconscious." He takes no time to size me up and immediately attacks. I block his punches to the face, knowing he's trying to take the easy route to knocking me out. I land a kick to his side and I see the pain register, but he keeps going. Attack after attack. I know he's looking for my weakening, but I'm not going to let that happen. I switch up my tactic and begin using more punches than kicks. It was his idea that I kick more...my lower body strength is much stronger than my upper. I've been working on that, though, with Steve. I can tell that this has taken him somewhat by surprise, but he adapts. He lands a blow to my side which leaves me gasping. His next hit is to my left shoulder, dislocating it. His final hit, a punch to my jaw. I black out.

"She's waking up." A male voice says and I open my eyes. I look around and see three familiar people. Tony, Steve, and Natasha. "What happened?" Steve asks, identifying himself as the one who alerted the other two to my consciousness.

"I..." I start and then frown, my jaw hurts. Tony pulls out a tablet and pulls up security footage. I move to sit up and wince. My shoulder.

"No, lay down." He says, glancing at me. Steve and Natasha watch over his shoulder. "Well then..."

"I knew I shouldn't have let you go off with him like that." Steve says, his face falling into a dark look. I shake my head.

"Steve, that was inevitable. I knew it before I even said one word to him that I was going to fight him." I say and then switch gear. "You couldn't have stopped it."

"Yes I could have." He says, obviously pissed. "Now you're here and out of commission." I open my mouth to protest. "Your left shoulder is dislocated and a couple of your ribs are bruised." Wow, I thought that he just bruised them. "You have a horrible bruise on your face." He says and I give a more or less look. I was expecting that. "You're on leave."

"We haven't even had a mission yet." I give the weak argument. I make it sound sincere though. "And I have to do the testing for my...abilities or whatever."

"Not until you're totally healed. I'll personally see to that if you have a problem with it." Tony speaks up and for the first time, I realize just how pissed off he is.

"I do have a problem with that. I have a job to do, and I plan on doing it." I say, serious about that. I need to find out what Will is up to.

"You sound like some kind of robot!" He exclaims and I quirk an eyebrow. "Stuck on one function. If you two met again, there would no doubt be another fight. He would kick your ass, and you wouldn't even be able to put up a good fight."

"Yelling at her isn't going to fix anything guys." Natasha says, bringing in some reason. "They are right though, you need to recover. If you fight it, it will just take longer."

"I don't expect you to understand..." I begin and they all cut me off with looks. "Fine, I'll rest up for two weeks."

"It's going to take longer than that, but it's a start." Natasha says beginning to try and pull them out. I notice I'm in the infirmary. I know this was originally just Tony's building...I wonder when it was added. Tony hangs back and Natasha nods.

"What?" I ask, irritated. Not at him, but at myself. I should be strong enough. He raises an eyebrow at me. "I'm sorry...I'm just irritated with myself."

"I'd be royally pissed off too, don't worry about it. My only question...you had the opportunity to back down." He says and I nod. "Why didn't you?"

"I'm worried that he's going to get himself killed." I say thoughtfully. "Besides...I'm not some delicate thing to be trifled with. He had the chance to back down too, and he didn't. I know it might be silly to think this...but..never mind."

"No. What's wrong?" Tony asks, pulling up a chair and sitting down. I raise an eyebrow at him. I don't recall it in his character to sit down and be a good listener.

"I just...what if he doesn't want me in his life anymore?" I say, voicing my insecurity for the first time out loud. "He's the only family I've ever had."

"Well...if that's his choice then there really isn't anything you can do about it. However, you gained a whole new family when you joined up. Gramps sure has warmed up to you." He adds the last part almost bitterly.

"You're jealous." I say, looking at him with amusement clear on my face. "You're jealous because you pissed me off and Steve reassured me that I wasn't an idiot for falling for your ploy."

"No, you didn't fall for it. You're too smart for that." He says, shaking his head. "And I'm not jealous of him." He thinks for a moment. "I realize...that it may not have been the best idea for me to...attempt to take advantage of that situation...but in my defense, I'm trying to get back in the game."

"The whole ex thing?" I ask and he nods. "Well, I can guarantee that girls don't like being played." I say, avoiding admitting that I was more hurt than angry. "You don't like being hurt, and obviously you were, so why do something that would hurt someone else?" Realization dawns on him.

"I hurt you." He says, not really asking. "That's why you...it all makes sense now." I return to my defensive shell. "I didn't mean to...you know..."

"Are you apologizing?" I ask and he shrugs. "Well...I'm not admitting to anything." I say stubbornly. "So...how bad did the fight look?"

"Well...lets just say Gramps probably in the gym beating the tar out of some punching bags." He says and I gesture him on. "If you're asking how your fighting looked...I'm not sure whether or not it scared me or turned me on." I roll my eyes. "Maybe both." He shrugs. "I was serious earlier though, I'm not letting you work yourself to death."

"I wouldn't be working myself to death..." I say and he gives me a look. "You'd think I got stabbed in the stomach or something. It's just a dislocated shoulder and bruised ribs. It doesn't even hurt that bad."

"That's because you've got pain medicine in your system. If you cause problems we can hook you up to an IV and there's a magical button that we can use to knock you on your ass. Questions?" He asks standing up.

"I don't want to stay in the infirmary..." I say, pulling out puppy eyes. He stares at me for a moment before he realizes what is going on and he looks away.

"Okay, if you promise to not cause problems I'll arrange for you to be moved to your room." He says and I suppress my satisfied smirk.

"I pinky swear." I say, playing up the innocent little girl bit. "Oh...and by the way...I don't know if I told you this, but I actually did have a little fun last week at the ball."

"Me too. Thanks for going with me." He says, offering one of his winning smiles. "You look like hell though, so you should rest up."

"Charming." I say and then it dawns on me. "Could you possibly locate my cell phone?" I ask, turning on the charm again.

"It's right here." He says, picking it up and handing it to me. "I'm serious though, we'll need you out there."

"I know, thanks." I say and as he turns to walk away I kick his butt, gasping at the pain. "That was for saying I look like hell."

"Looks like you hurt yourself more than you hurt me." He says, obviously amused by my antics.

"Get the hell out of here." I growl, evening out my breathing. He waves and leaves the room. I roll my eyes and dial Balkov's number.

"Madeline? Is everything okay?" He asks, answering after only the second ring. I haven't contacted him since I left Boston.

"Sort of...I need you to do me a favor and do some digging on Will and his recent activities." I say, still finding breathing to be painful.

"Sure. What happened? You sound like you're in pain." He says and I debate on whether or not I should tell him the truth.

"I over did it at the gym this morning." I lie pretty smoothly. "Don't worry about it. So...just let me know alright?"

"Sure thing, and take it easy." He says and I roll my eyes. How many times are people going to tell me this.

"Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later." I say and then hang up. I set my phone down next to me and relax. I'm going to figure Will out.

"So, it's rumored that you and Tony Stark are an item. Is this true?" Stella Star, some big reporter for some big magazine asks. It's not the first time I've been asked this question.

"No, we aren't dating. We're just good friends." I give the same answer I've given everyone else. "Actually, he was associated with the discovery of my true identity."

"It sounds like something out of a comic book...the true identity thing. Is it true? Are you a super hero, like Mr. Stark?" She asks and I smile.

"No, I can't say that I am. Honestly, I grew up in Boston at Riverside Orphanage and decided that I wanted to be a detective." I say, attempting to sound fond. I wasn't depressed growing up, but I wasn't happy either. I was content, I suppose. "Not necessarily the comic book type, I don't think. The men and women of BPD and all police forces, I think, can be considered super heros."

"What made you decide to leave that all behind and come to New York? If you don't mind my asking." She says, and I think on it.

"Well...I believe that everyone once in a while you need to make big changes for yourself. I found out something big about myself and I decided to take that and focus my energy on bettering the country. The whole reason behind being a detective...I wanted to be the reason that little kids were able to play outside without being afraid." I say, shrugging slightly.

"That is very noble." She says honestly. "It was really great meeting you Madeline. I hope we can do this again some time."

"Oh definitely. Thank you for having me, Stella." I say, shaking her hand. She walks me to her office door and I head out. Upon exiting the building, I hear something come for the ally. I walk over to investigate and I see a cat stuck in a trash can. "Oh you poor baby." I say walking over and taking it out. I suddenly hear growling. My blood runs like ice through my veins as I turn around and see it. Standing right in my path. The cat hisses. Memories of the dog from so long ago attacking me raises bile to my throat and I take off running the opposite direction, holding onto the cat for dear life. I hear the dog chasing me and I can't even scream. I can hardly breathe. I reach the end of the ally oddly enough I see Tony walking out of somewhere. He sees me and rushes across the street. I crash into his arms, sobbing like a maniac.

"What happened?" He asks, holding me at arms length. "Did someone hurt you?" He asks, shaking me once to get me to look at him. He looks around and ushers me into his car. Hogan's in the front. Tony gestures for him to drive and he does so. The cat licks one of the tears off of my cheek and meows curiously at me.

"It was a dog." I say after a moment. My voice is shaking horribly and I'm still crying. I know I look like a wreck. "It chased me down the ally." They don't know I'm afraid of dogs though or that I was attacked...so I probably sound stupid.

"I read that you were attacked pretty bad a while back, but I didn't know that you were..." He doesn't say afraid, probably cautious of the effect that someone using the word associated with me has on my bitch reflex. "What were you doing in the ally?" He asks, switching gears.

"I heard a noise and this cat was stuck in a trash can, so I got him out." I say, scratching behind his ear. "If I hadn't held onto him...he would have attacked the dog and the dog would have killed him."

"See? You're a hero." Tony says and scratches the cat's head. "Why don't we keep this little guy?"

"You're serious?" I ask, looking up at him. I've wanted to get a cat for the longest time, but my land lord was very strict about the no pets thing.

"Yeah, why not? He looks like he doesn't have a home, and you obviously have a soft spot for him." He says and he looks at me. "We can modify William's part of the room to suit him and then when he comes back we'll stick him in a closet or something." Will hasn't been back since he beat me up, and it's been a little over a month. I can't help but chuckle though.. "There we go...are you okay now?" He asks looking at me very seriously.

"I'm just shaken up...that's all." I say, hugging the cat again. "Since you're the one who rescued us, I think you should help me pick a name."

"Duh, Tony Jr." He says and I give him a look. "Don't look at me like I'm on drugs or something."

"You are on drugs. I'm not naming a cat after you." I say shaking my head. "He's an idiot." I say to the cat. "Lets see...you look like a..."

"What about Shaggy?" He suggests and I look at him weird. "What? He's got shaggy fur." He points out and I look at him again.

"I guess your right...he does look kind of like a Shaggy." I say with a small smile. He's too cute. "It's settled. He shall be Shaggy Penn."

"I think he should be Shaggy Stark." He says and I give him another look. "We talked about those looks Maddie." He says and I laugh. "I'm serious."

"I know, that's why it's funny. I don't see why he should be a Stark though." I say, holding Shaggy up like Simba from Lion King.

"Okay...how about we hyphenate it? Penn-Stark?" He asks, looking hopeful. I laugh again. What could be the harm?

"Okay...fine." I say and he looks satisfied, but opens his mouth to say something. "No, it can't be Stark-Penn. Alphabetically it's screwy and I'm his adoptive mother."

"So, does that make me the father?" He asks and I shrug. "Alright, so we adopted a cat together. I'll schedule family pictures say...noon-ish tomorrow?"

"You can't be serious..." I say looking at him like he's crazy. He laughs. "Okay, I'm glad you were kidding."

"For now..." He says and I shake my head. We lapse into silence. "Oh, by the way, I called your whatever to go and pick up your car."

"Michael?" I ask and he nods. "Thank you..." I say and we fall into silence. I notice that I'm sitting in the middle with his arm draped casually along the back of the seat. It would be rude if I moved...wouldn't it? No...he's not expected me to sit beside him. I scoot over and buckle my seat belt. I set Shaggy in the middle and he lays down, purring contently. I look up at Tony and see that he's looking at me already. "What?" I ask.

"You too good to sit next to me, or what?" He asks and I roll my eyes. Truth be told...it makes me nervous.

"Paparazzi people are everywhere. I don't want to give them reason to doubt my word when I say we're just good friends. Do you have any idea how often I get asked if we're going out?" I say, exasperated.

"I'm going to guess a lot...and would it be so bad if people thought that? I mean, I'm not that bad." He says and I look out the window. "You don't trust me." He states.

"It's not that I don't trust you. You're a good friend of mine." I say, attempting and failing to friend zone him. It's all in the tone, and I don't think I could. There's no doubt that I'm attracted to Tony Stark, but I don't think it would be a good idea to get involved.

"Good friend." He agrees, seeming to accept this. Maybe one day I'll be able to convince myself that it's a horrible idea to get involved with him. "What are you thinking about?"

"Moon shoes and Harry Potter, why?" I ask, going to a silly response. He doesn't seem to get my 'A Very Potter Musical' reference. "Lame." I say shaking my head.

"What?" He asks, and I laugh. "There are a few things I don't like. One, being handed things. Two, being out of the loop."

"Oh, you're so outside the loop that you didn't even know a loop was formed until five seconds ago." I say, playing it up a bit.

"Oh, I'll bet it's some inside joke with Gramps." He says. It is true that I've introduced Steve to Harry Potter. It's not his favorite thing in the world, but he liked it all the same.

"Nope, not even that." I say and he just continues to look frustrated. I do think that I've found my new sport. Teasing Tony. If there were an Olympic gold medal for it...well, I hope I'd be the one to win it.

"You're not going to tell me?" He asks and I shake my head. "Fine then." He takes out his phone and starts messing around on it. Probably bothering someone or Googling random people...he's a creeper that way, I've noticed.

"You aren't seriously pouting, are you?" I ask and he shakes his head. The car stops and I notice that we're at Stark Tower. Hogan hops out and opens my door for me. "Thank you." I say with a smile as I gather Shaggy in my arms and climb out. Tony and I walk in together and climb on the elevator.

I enter my bedroom with the freshly cleaned Mr. Penn-Stark and set him on my bed. I look around, gather Shaggy into my arms and head out. He purrs contentedly as I walk to the elevator. I don't want to be in there right now. I head up to the pent house level where everyone generally hangs out on their down time.

"I think I'm going to get an apartment." I say upon stepping out of the elevator. Five heads turn and look at me, confused.

"Did we do something to upset you?" Steve asks, walking over to me. He looks somewhat hurt. "Whatever it is, we didn't mean to."

"You guys haven't done anything. Actually, you've all been great. Even Katniss." I say with a smile and then frown. "It's just...living in that room..."

"Done. You'll move into my room." Tony says and I give him a look. "I'm serious. I have to go away on business for a week, so you can stay there and I'll have the workers finish up the new room and we'll move you in there."

"You sure?" I ask, scratching behind Shaggy's ears absently. Staying in Tony's room...the very idea makes me nervous.

"Yeah, it's not like I'll be using it." He says as he walks over to me. "Or...you could come with me." He says suggestively and I roll my eyes.

"You're on crack." I shake my head. "Thank you..." I say. I really don't want to move out of here. It's comfortable and I feel safe.

"I am not on crack." He says, sounding slightly offended. "Anyway, if you really don't want to go in there...I suppose I could go and pack your things and then move them into my room."

"Two things, you don't leave until tomorrow and she probably doesn't want you touching her things." Steve says, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Chill out, Gramps." Tony says, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll...sleep on the couch or something. Or, if Miss. Penn doesn't mind..."

"You sleep in your room tonight, I'll sleep on the couch." I say, solving the issue. "I don't snore and I don't have a built in night-light."

"Uh, excuse me. The night-light bit is getting old." Tony says, and I smirk at him. "Don't smirk at me like that."

"I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" I ask, laughing. I make a face at the sharp pain I feel in my abdomen.

"Okay, that's enough...joy for you. Sit down, I'll bring you something to drink." Tony says as he takes my elbow and leads me to the couch. I don't fight, and sit down.

"Make it something non-alcoholic." I say, letting Shaggy crawl off my lap and onto the floor to explore his new environment. "Also, could you bring your son some milk?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, anything else?" He asks going towards the kitchen. I cross my legs and shake my head. He comes back with a saucer of milk and a can of cherry Dr. Pepper.

"I'm not going to argue, but shouldn't I be drinking water or something?" I say, accepting the can and opening it. Shaggy makes his way over to Dr. Banner and sniffs his shoe.

"So, where did you find this little guy?" He asks, reaching down and patting his head. He looks up at me.

"Uh...in a trash can." I say and Shaggy looks at me. I laugh and he trots over to me, falling over himself. "Your a clumsy baby, aren't you?" He hops into my lap and snuggles up to me. "I was walking out of my interview with Stella Star and I heard this noise so I went to investigate and found him." I say, choosing to not talk about the dog incident. Tony sets the saucer down and Shaggy pounces and starts drinking. I yawn.

"If you want, you can go take a nap in my room." Tony says, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. This being the pent house, it's home to Tony's bedroom.

"A nap would be nice, but I have a lot of studying to do." I say and then groan. I always hated studying. Research and studying are completely different in my mind. Research isn't something that you get tested on...usually. If I research something, I normally am interested in it.

"You could always procrastinate and do it later." Tony suggests and I actually consider it. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Failure...torture...fiery death...and then possibly a death fall." I say after a moment of thought. "And, since today is a Wednesday, angry mob is on the list of things that could go wrong. Or an assassination attempt."

"Thank God none of those have happened yet." Steve says as he sits down next to me. "We're ready for it though."

"Oh, believe me Steve, I'm packing." I say with an affirmative nod. "I look forward to the day when I can meet my enemy."

"Don't be so eager." He says. "It may not be the best thing for you." I wave it off and he gives me a look.

"You can give me the disapproving look all you want. I'm persistent and I hate it when someone threatens me and then doesn't take action." I say after taking a drink of my Dr. Pepper. "I'm ready for it."

"Just don't think you've got to handle the threat on your own. You're part of a team now." Natasha says after a moment.

"I know...and I trust you guys." I say, even though it's not entirely true. I trust them, but only to a certain extent. My cell phone rings and I take it out of my pocket. It's Balkov. "Hello?" I ask, keeping my tone even and not anxious like I truly feel.

"I am so sorry, but I have nothing. Absolutely nothing...it's almost like he's intentionally disappeared off the map." He says, sounding frustrated. "All of my sources have turned up empty."

"You have got to be kidding me." I say, my voice going cold. "Okay...thank you anyway. Please keep on...I'm still a little out of commission right now, but as soon as I can I'll be combing my other sources."

"So, are you ever going to tell me what really happened to bruise your ribs and dislocate your shoulder?" He asks and I look around.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were stalking me." I say and I hear him chuckle on the other line.

"You're a great actress, Madeline, but I can tell when you're in pain. What happened?" He asks and I know I must look irritated.

"Look at the time. Shouldn't you be...I don't know, doing some under the table deal or something like that?" I ask, rolling my eyes.

"I always make time for you." He says and I roll my eyes again, suppressing my laugh. "We'll talk later." He insists.

"Right...later. Just get those cop killers off the street okay?" I say, earning looks from my team. I'll explain later.

"We're close. Bye." He says and then the line disconnects. I hang up and place my phone back in my pocket.

"There have been a couple of cops killed in the past two weeks. Illegal weapons and I told Balkov if he didn't do something about it he'd wish he were in prison." I then laugh. "I almost miss Boston...threatening Balkov every day."

"Sounds charming." Tony says as he sits on the arm of the couch. "So look, are you going to take a nap or not?"

"I probably need to." I admit and he takes my drink away from me and sets it on the coffee table.

"Alright, we'll get you set up." He says and I stand up gingerly. Shaggy looks up at me and meows. "Come on." Tony says to him and we begin walking. He leads the way to his room and has Jarvis dim the lights. "If you need anything, just ask."

"I know the drill...what's up with you?" I ask, tilting my head to the side in question. He just shrugs. "No...tell me. You can trust me."

"I don't know. It's a, I sort of trust you too kind of thing. It's nothing really. Uh, sleep well." He says before leaving. I pull the covers back and lay down. Shaggy hops up and curls around my head and I fall asleep.

_I'm running. If I stop, then I die. It's that kind of running. The running where you're pushing yourself harder than you've ever pushed yourself before. The type of running where your brain is screaming at you to run. I have a gun, but I'm out of rounds. I'm pretty much screwed. My adversary is too much for me to handle all by myself. __I never thought I'd ever be able to admit something like that. After all, isn't that weakness? Shouldn't I be able to handle anything? I have those special abilities. I guess I never really learned to use them ever either. I should still be able to do something. I should be able to win.__ I trip over something and fall hard. I look to see what I'd tripped over and a strangled sob escapes my throat. Will's body. I pull him into my arms and shake him._

_ "Wake up!" I whisper-shout. "Please." I plead, hugging him, ignoring the fact that blood is getting all over me. "Will, please wake up. Don't be dead." I hear the sound of someone running and I stand up and drag Will away into a hiding place. They will not deface his body. I don't care if this is the last thing I do. I feel around and find his gun. He also has a few rounds in his coat pocket. Someone runs past and I deem it time to go. I'm no longer the one who's being hunted. I kiss Will's forehead and get up and start running again, no longer tired. My legs carry me faster than I've ever ran before, so it doesn't take me long to catch up to whoever was running. It's a woman with long blonde hair. I aim and shoot her in the stomach. She falls, twisting to face me. I drop the gun when I realize that this woman looks exactly like me. Suddenly, I'm shot in the stomach. My hands go over the wound instantly and I shakily turn around and see another version of myself, totally shocked. She drops the gun and then she gets shot. I fall to my knees, watching in a shocked silence as an endless line of copies of myself are all killed in the same way. Will walks up then with another gun and walks over to me smiling._

_ "We always knew that you would die before me." He says as he takes aim and..._

Someone shakes me in attempt to wake me up. They decide that's not going to work so I'm taken into their arms. I realize that I'm screaming and fighting and stop. I realize that I'm crying and someone is whispering things into my ear.

"It's okay...shh." He says, rubbing soothing circles on my back. "It's okay, it was only a dream. You're okay now."

"I'd killed myself...but it wasn't me." I say, confused by it myself. Whoever is holding me holds me back at arm's length. The glow of the arc reactor tells me who it is before I see his face.

"What do you mean?" He asks and I feel tears welling up again. He pulls me back into him. "There, there." He sounds awkward now, as opposed to when he thought I wasn't coherent.

"I don't know..." I say, sighing shakily. "I was alone, and running and I was so afraid, I didn't have any bullets left and someone was chasing me. Next thing I know, I was tripping over Will's body and that didn't help me any." I say, laughing humorlessly. "I heard whoever was chasing me running, so I dragged him off to hide and I found his gun and bullets. After the person ran past, I started chasing them. I had only one thing on my mind, avenge Will and survive. I caught up and I saw that it was a woman, but I didn't waste any time and I shot her. She fell over and looked at me and it WAS me. Then I got shot and I turned around to see who had gotten me and it was me. Then it just kept going...copies of me all getting shot in the same way. Then, when I was getting weaker I fell over and Will walked over with a gun and he was going to kill me...but I woke up." I shiver. "I've never felt so...powerless."

"It was just a dream." He says, looking at me seriously. "I may not know him like you do, but I know that he would never kill you. Why would he have kept you alive in the past just to kill you now? It doesn't make any sense."

"Neither do the various copies of me getting killed in the same way." I say and then look around. My eyes fall on the windows and see that it's night time. "What time is it?"

"It's a little after midnight." He says and I groan. "What?" He asks and I shake my head. "Anyway, Clint and Natasha are in Iraq doing something. Steve is in the gym as usual, and Bruce and I were just watching a movie. You're more than welcome to join us." He says as he gets up. Shaggy crawls into my arms, demanding my attention. I smile a little bit and stand up and follow Tony out of the room.

"Are you okay?" Dr. Banner asks me and I nod, trying to be reassuring. I know I must fail though, because he doesn't look convinced. "Tony, why don't you get her something to drink and a saucer of milk for the little guy."

"Coming right up." He says, heading back towards the kitchen. I sit down on the big comfy chair and curl up like a ball in it. "Oh, do you want something to eat? We ordered pizza."

"I'm fine." I say, still sickened by my nightmare. Not even the part where I was killing myself repeatedly. Finding Will like that...dead.

"You should eat something." Dr. Banner says, using the doctor voice. I smile and shake my head.

"Doctor, using the doctor voice on me won't get me to eat." I say with a small laugh. I see pain flash in his eyes for a moment. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, you just reminded me of someone just then." He says, closing up. "You can call me Bruce." He says, changing the subject.

"Sorry..." I say with a slight laugh. "I still feel like I'm intruding on a super secret...something still."

"A super secret boy band?" Tony asks as he walks over with a saucer of milk and a can of 7-Up. "Nah, you aren't intruding. If you were, then I wouldn't let you sleep in my bed...without me."

"Oh, well that clears everything up." I say with a roll of my eyes. He hands me to 7-Up and sets the milk down for Shaggy who attacks it. "I've never really felt like I belonged anywhere."

"Well, you belong here. So deal with it." He says, sitting down in his spot. "What are you doing all the way over there? What are you? A loner? Come sit with us." I smile and sit in between the two men and they hit play. Star Wars...how typical. I look between the two men who are so focused on the screen and sigh quietly, ignoring the slight stabbing sensation in my rib cage. How can they be so accepting of me? I feel like I cause nothing but problems for them and...they invite me to do stuff with them. Tony may have pissed me off really badly at first...but he really isn't a bad guy. It's a front he puts up to keep himself from being hurt. Bruce...he's a damaged guy too, and I can tell that the someone I reminded him of is someone who he misses more than anything. I don't know what I can do for Steve, Clint or Natasha...but I want to do something for Tony and Bruce...I'm going to find Bruce's 'someone' and somehow...I'm going to make Tony Stark unafraid of being hurt.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Welcome to chapter four! I'm sorry that it's literally taken me over a month to get this posted. I've had severe writer's block, but I'm happy with how it turned out! I'll stop yammering so you can read, but I just wanted to say thank you for reading :) Enjoy!**_

"Quit being a freaking girl and accept my gift." I demand as I slam the box down on the table. My patience is growing thing with him.

"I couldn't..." Steve says as he looks at me, almost a little frightened. "Maddie...it looks so expensive."

"You haven't even opened it. Just accept my gift, please." I say, tacking on please as an after thought. "Steve...you gave me this beautiful cross for my birthday...please accept this gift for being there for me." I say, pulling that card. I got everyone a gift, even Tony. I got Natasha a new outfit, Katniss _The Hunger Games_, Bruce some science thing Tony said he would like and I got Tony new cuff links. Steve was trickier, so I bought him something to help him catch up on modern culture. An iPad!

"Oh...alright." He says as he takes the box and unwraps it. He gives me a look. "This is expensive." He says dryly.

"Pocket change." I say, waving my hand. "Trust me, if I didn't have the money I wouldn't have done this for everyone. "I figured that it would help you with catching up...I'll teach you how to use it."

"Hey Maddie, did you know that we're engaged?" Tony asks as he walks into the room. I look up at him like he's on crack. "I wish you wouldn't give me that look." He walks over and hands me the tabloid.

"They don't even have good taste in jewelery. That is way too flashy for my liking." I say as I look over it.

"And I would totally have bought something way flashier than that." He says and I give him a look. "What? That is my style."

"Yeah yeah...speaking of style." I say as I toss him the small package. "It's a gift, don't look too deep into it. I got something for everyone."

"We've made a lot of progress." He notes as he opens it. "Hey, these are nice. Thanks." He says nodding with approval. "Anyway, Fury wants us all to meet in the conference room at six tomorrow."

"Alright, we'll be there." Steve says as he stands up, taking his gift with him. "I'm going to try and figure this out..." He says and then leaves.

"Alright, so I can tell that something is up." I say as I sit down. Tony looks anywhere but at me. "What's going on, what does Fury need us for?"

"Don't get mad." He starts, which automatically makes me think that I'm going to get mad. "So...your numero uno enemy has surfaced." He says and my heart stops. "He also believes that you and I are a thing. He called me today and sent me various pictures of you, pictures that you didn't know were taken."

"So he's been stalking me...good." I say with a nod. "Alright, thank you for telling me." I say, smiling a little.

"Maddie...this is serious. The things he told me...they're kind of...I don't know how to put this delicately, so oh well, psychotic. He really wants you dead, and he wants me to suffer too." He says, actually looking serious. That's how I know that things are real. "I beefed up security around here, and I've taken the liberty of hiring someone to look out for you."

"You seriously hired the ex-cop a body guard?" I ask dryly, giving him the 'are you effing kidding me' face. There's a difference with the 'effing' in there.

"Given the fact that he has those pictures of you without you knowing, yeah, I hired a body guard for you." He says and I sigh.

"Alright...so since you're involved now...what do you want to do about him thinking we're a thing?" I ask, concealing my nervousness. I like Tony...I've realized this...but I'm afraid that I'll just be another one of his girls.

"Well, you want to lure him out..." He says, making eye contact with me. "So, we should at least pretend to be like that." I nod. "Wait, you're seriously going for it?"

"The sooner we catch this guy, the sooner you can go back to your regular life. Tonaline or whatever they're calling us now will split and it'll be like all other celebrity couples." I say and then chuckle. "That sounds like some sort of tooth paste. Use Tonaline, to make your smile Hollywood bright!"

"You haven't gotten much sleep in the past few days, have you?" He asks and I look at him. "Yeah, it is that obvious."

"I knew I was ugly and all with my dark circles, but you didn't have to call me out on it. Jeez." I say as I pull my hair into a pony tail. "Anyway, so we're going to go with the rumor that we're engaged?"

"Yup, and I can get you a not so flashy ring." He says as he takes out his phone. "You're what? A size seven in rings? No, probably smaller. You've got tiny hands."

"Five." I say dryly and he nods, going about his business. After a moment he puts it away and I look at him expectantly.

"It should be here the day after tomorrow, if not sooner." He says, thinking that's what I wanted to be informed of. "How did I propose?"

"I don't know...something flashy and extravagant sounds like you." I say with a shrug. "Fireworks? Uh...Tahiti? No, I'm too pale to have been to any beaches. We went skiing maybe? I don't know."

"How about ice skating? I like the fire works idea too. So we went ice skating somewhere out of the country and it was very romantic." He says with a nod. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm only sure if you are. I don't want you to get hurt because some yahoo is after me." I say, honestly worried about his well being. He has his own enemies to worry about. I sharply inhale and shake out my hand. I examine the nail on my pointer finger and see that the cuticle area is bleeding and groan.

"One of these days, I'm going to get this hang nail thing and I'm going to bleed out because of it. I swear." I say as I get up and head to the kitchen area. Tony follows.

"Here, let me help." He says after I wash it and wrap it in a paper towel. He takes out one of the many first aid kits around the tower and grabs a band aid. He takes my hand and puts the band aid on it.

"Sorry to interrupt." Bruce says as he walks in and goes over to the refrigerator. He grabs a can of diet Pepsi.

"What did you think you were interrupting?" I ask, raising my eyebrow at the good doctor. "He was saving me from bleeding out all over the kitchen."

"Did you know that we were engaged?" Tony asks and Bruce shakes his head. "Neither did we." I laugh and he smiles.

"Just promise to let me know when you have kids." He says and waves as he goes to head back to the lab.

"So, since we're technically engaged does that mean we can sleep in the same room?" Tony asks and I give him a look. "That's a maybe?"

"I'm not going to sleep with you Tony." I say firmly. Of all the...he's so bold and crazy and...that's probably why I fell for him.

"Gee Maddie, your mind instantly went there? I was just thinking that I didn't want to sleep on the couch anymore." He says, his voice going innocent.

"Oh fine, you take your room. I'll sleep on the couch." I say and it's his turn to give me a look. "What? If you're going to complain about it. You're the one who offered. We thought that the room would be done by now."

"This is a true statement, but you always slept in the same room as him and I'm your fake fiance. I don't see how it's a problem." He says with a shrug.

"Fine, as long as you don't try anything funny...and don't mind taking the side closest to the door...and if you don't mind me sleeping with a gun under my pillow." I say and he gawks at me.

"You sleep with a gun under your pillow? Why?" He asks and I think about it. Why do I? Oh yeah, there's the fact that there's a psychopath after me.

"I feel safer when I have a weapon that I can easily access. I promise I won't shoot you. I just think that a gun is safer to have under my pillow than a knife." I say, choosing to be nicer than my thoughts.

"This is one of the most secure buildings in the world...no one's going to be able to get in to attack you." He says, seriously now.

"I'm still sleeping with a gun near me." I say and then lighten up. "Sorry, it's a habit. When you live on your own and you see the kinds of evils that go on...Wait a minute, I don't have to explain myself to you." I say, laughing a little bit. "It's your own problem if you don't like a gun on the bed side table."

"It'll be both of our problems if one of us gets shot in the middle of the night." He says dryly and I shrug.

"Just don't bug me...or attempt to kill me. That's a guaranteed way to get shot..." Or at least have me threaten to shoot you...I tack on as a silent afterthought.

"Noted. Anyway, I still find it very attractive how you are demanding." He says and I roll my eyes. "You think I'm kidding, but I'm serious."

"That's why it's sad." I say and grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator. "Do you think we're going to catch him?" I say, sobering up considerably.

"Well the alternative isn't an option. So yeah." He says looking at me dead serious. I silently question him what the alternative is. "I'm not going to let him kill you, Maddie."

"And I'm not letting him kill you either...who else would annoy me and enjoy me annoying Katniss?" I ask and he smiles.

"I guess you're right. You wanna catch dinner together tonight?" He asks and I shrug. "Cool, you don't have to dress up too much."

"My usual attire it is then." I say with a slight nod. I already know what I'll wear. It's going to be cute and perfect for paparazzi. He shrugs again. "So around six?" I ask.

"Yeah..that sounds good." He says, now distracted by something. "Just be careful...I'm serious." He says and I look at him.

"I know, Tony..." I say, and then soften up a little bit. "I will be...I'm never not careful." I get an eye roll at that. "I'm not!"

"Sure Maddie...if that makes you feel better about yourself." He says as he pats me on the shoulder. I frown and pinch his arm. "Ouch! Did you seriously just pinch me?"

"Come at me, bro." I say, in a more or less child-like mood now. I guess that's what comes of sleep deprivation. "Okay...I'm going to try and sleep now. It dangerous when I'm in this kind of mood." I say and head towards the bedroom. I take my hair down and crawl into bed and drift off into sleep.

_"__Honey, on a scale from one to __'I feel like a __pedo__phile'__...how young do I look?" I ask as I skip down the stairs in a short, gray, plaid pleated skirt and a black bat sweatshirt. I'm wearing dark brown loafers with thigh high black socks and very light make-up. I look up at him innocently._

_ "Well, I feel like I should go to prison." Tony says as he looks me up and down. He walks over to me and pulls me into him. If it were anyone else...they'd be on the floor by now. "Any specific reason you're dressed like this?" He murmurs, his lips brushing against my cheek as he speaks. _

_ "Just wanted to try it on." I say with a slight shrug. "And...I may or may not be put into a situation where I need to look younger. I was going for Japanese school girl type." _

_ "You definitely need pig tails then." He says and then realization hits him. "Wait, what situation?"_

_ "It's nothing." I say, smiling innocently again. "Just to catch some creep. I mean, I already look young."_

_ "__I don't know if I feel comfortable with that...why can't Natasha do it?" He asks, his tone going __slightly whiny. _

_ "Because, she's busy." I say, putting on my firm tone. "I'll be fine. It's not like I've never gone undercover before."_

_ "Fine, but next time you dress like this it's going to be exclusively for me." He says, his tone going demanding._

_ "Maybe in your dreams." I say as I pat his cheek. He smiles and kisses me. The dizzy, happy feeling I get when he kisses me never fails to hit. I can still remember the first kiss._

_ "You're always in my dreams...have I told you that I love you today?" He asks as he leans his forehead against mine._

_ "Only a few times." I say with a slight shrug. "It's nice to know though...I love you too." I say seriously._

_ "I have a question...I've been meaning to ask you for a while now." He says as he takes a step back. I look at him like he's on crack. "Again with that look?" He asks and I laugh. He smiles and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a jewelery box and gets down on one knee. "You have made me happier than I have been in a very long time, maybe even ever. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Madeline Joelle Penn, will you marry me?" _

I sit up in bed, looking around. What on Earth was that? What kind of a dream...I shake my head and crawl out of bed. I go to the bathroom and look at my reflection. My hair is a mess and my cheeks are wet and my eyes puffy, like I've been crying.

"Maddie?" Tony asks, his voice coming from across the room at the door. He walks in. "You in here? I thought I heard you crying."

"Yeah, in here." I say, my voice sort of shaky. He appears in the door way and looks at me. "I don't know what's up with me." I say, laughing as I wipe my eyes. "I had this strange dream and I woke up like this."

"What was it about?" He asks, leaning against the door frame. I shake my head. "Was it a bad dream?"

"No...it wasn't bad. It was kind of good, but really weird. I'm not going into detail on that one though." I say, embarrassed at my feelings. "I don't know why I'm crying to be honest." I say, grabbing a wash cloth off the shelf and wetting it down before washing my face. "I guess it's the sort of thing where you wish it were true, but you know it won't ever really happen."

"What do you wish was true?" He asks absently, not really watching me. I toss the rag into the nearby hamper and look at him.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." I say, reaching into my designated drawer to grab my brush. I gently pull it through my hair. "I will say though...I don't think I ever see myself for real getting married. It's a nice thought, but I'm not even guaranteed tomorrow."

"None of us are, that's why you have to live in the moment." He says and I look at him in the mirror. I shake my head and continue brushing. "Anyway, it's five."

"Alright, thank you. I'll get dressed." I say as I finish restoring order to my hair. I clip some of it back out of my face and move past him. I walk into the closet and go to the area where my clothes are and grab what I'd planned on wearing. My favorite gray skirt with a blue shirt and matching blue sweater. I grab my slouchy black boots and close the closet door to change into them. I probably should add some make-up, but I don't want to. I'll blame laziness. I walk out of the closet to see Tony still standing in the doorway to the bathroom. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah...just a quick question. I heard you say that you loved someone while you were asleep...who was it?" He asks and I think fast.

"Gerard Butler." I say, going with the first thought to pop into my mind. "He had taken me on a romantic boat trip and we were watching the sun set and he told me that he loved me. So I told him that I loved him too." I lie smoothly. "He's probably my favorite actor, next to Johnny Depp. Who doesn't love Depp though?"

"Johnny's a pretty cool guy." Tony agrees, not really seeming to believe me. He's getting smart about me real fast, and I'm not too sure if I like that. "Just a second." He says as he flips out his phone and answers it. "Hello?" He asks and then listens for a moment. "Alright...I'll see you then." He says and then hangs up. I walk over and sit on the edge of the bed as I grab my silver cross necklace from the nightstand and put it on. He walks over and sits next to me, but he gives me some space. "So...I got your something." He says as he takes something out of his pocket. I suppress my reaction very well. This isn't even relatively like my dream. "If you don't like them, I can take them back, but here." He says as he hands me the box. I open the lid and see a pair of diamond earrings. They aren't too flashy, but they're still very pretty.

"Thank you." I say as I blink. I smile and take them out and put them on. I get up and go look in the mirror. "They're gorgeous, thank you so much."

"Wait, so you aren't mad that I bought you something that you would consider too expensive?" He asks, walking over to me. What's with him following me around?

"No...I bought you something expensive, so it's only fair." I say with a slight shrug. "Have you seen Shaggy?"

"He's in the lab with Bruce." He says and I chuckle. Shaggy has been spending a lot of time in the lab. He has latched onto Bruce, so I gave him grandfatherly rights. "What's with that bruise on your calf?" He asks and I look and see an ugly looking bruise.

"Oh, Natasha and I were sparring." I say and then elect to put on black tights. I go back into the closet and do so. "Thus far, I'm only ahead by one."

"You really should be taking it easy." He says and I shrug again. I'd gone out on much more than bruised ribs. A sparring match isn't going to kill me.

"You can say that until you're blue in the face. I'm being careful in my own ways." I say and give my hair another look and deem it acceptable. "Alright, I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"I'll meet you out there." He says and I head out. I go to the elevator and head down to the lab. I walk in.

"She's pretty great...and honestly before I met her I didn't think I'd ever be happy again." Bruce says. I wonder who he's talking to. "Buddy, you're happy that you were only an ally cat before." I quietly back out and run into Tony in the hall.

"We need to find Bruce's someone." I whisper, looking up into his eyes. "He was talking to the cat."

"Yeah...I've been looking into it for a while now. He won't even tell me her name." He says as he slips an arm around my waist and pulls me into a walk. I raise an eyebrow at him and he removes his arm. "All I know is that before the whole thing with Loki, he lived in Calcutta and he met a girl there."

"I guess it was safer for her to be left behind though...S.H.I.E.L.D had been keeping interested parties off his trail, so no one knows about her except for us and we don't even know her name." I say, happy that this girl is at least somewhat safe.

"If only you'd let them keep this crazy guy off of your trail." He says and I look up at him again. He shrugs as we reach the elevator and step on. "You know...once we get out into the real world you have to at least pretend to not be sickened by physical contact with me."

"Trust me, that's not what makes me sick." I say with a slight smirk in his direction. What has the world come to? Me hiding behind a facade of confidence. Truth be told, butterflies fill my stomach whenever he touches me. Whether it be our hands brushing, his casual way of putting his arm around me. I'm hopeless. Suddenly, my cell phone rings. It's Balkov. "Tell me you have something." I say as I answer it.

"First things first. What's this about you and Stark? I thought you didn't like him." Balkov says, obviously jealous.

"Balkov. Information now. Or I fly to Boston and cut off your pinky finger." I say in my demanding tone. Tony raises his eyebrows at me. We get off the elevator and we head out and get into his car.

"Fine, fine. Okay, so Charlie saw Will here last week." He says and I feel my jaw drop. "He and his brother were able to follow him for a little while, but they lost him." Tony takes my phone as he's driving.

"Yes, hello Mr. Balkov. I would just like to let you know that...Hey, Maddie. I don't appreciate the 'are you on crack, give me my phone you asshole' look." Tony says and I hold out my hand for the phone. "William beat the crud out of her and she's too chicken to tell you." He listens for a moment. "Okay, here she is."

"Madd, what the Hell?" Balkov asks and I can tell that he's ready to shoot someone. "Why didn't you tell me. From what you told me, this was a back burner kind of thing."

"I didn't want to tell you, because it's my war. I appreciate your intel, Balkov, but I can't have people fighting my battles for me. I'm looking for him, S.H.I.E.L.D is looking for him, and I want you looking for him. Please, he's the only family I have and I don't want him to end up dead." I say, my tone determined.

"Alright...but if I find him, I'm punching him for hurting you." He says and the line disconnects. I sigh and put my phone in my purse.

"Maddie?" Tony asks, almost sounding like a child after they've done something wrong. "Look, I didn't know he'd want to kill him."

"Tony, you do realize that Michael Balkov is the leader of Boston's number one crime family, right?" I ask and he nods. "So you also realize that his job entails violence. He seems to believe that he's in love with me, and sometimes when violent people believe that, they get possessive. There were very few goons who dared to even look at me there." I explain, not really mad. I'm more frustrated actually. Not really at Tony or Balkov. Just at life. "Sure, it was convenient when I was on the streets stopping them. In situations like this though, it is very frustrating to have him not thinking rationally."

"I'm sorry." He says and I do a double take. I think that this is the first time I have ever heard him say that. Sure he's implied it, but he's never flat out apologized. "I know that you're putting up with a lot of stuff right now, and on top of that you've got tabloids saying that you're engaged to me. You need to realize though, that Will isn't your only family anymore." He says and I just nod, trying to believe it. "I have one question." I look to him. "How in the world did someone draw you into playing Christine from Phantom of the Opera in high school?"

"How did you find out!?" I shriek. He just laughs. It was probably something that was dug up by some curious reporter. I sigh. "It was during swimming, and I was in the shower singing Think of Me, and the theatre teacher heard and approached me...when I was dressed of course."

"I also managed to secure a copy of the illegal filming of it." He says and I feel my eyes bug out. "Tony, don't show anyone. Will doesn't even know about this."

"Okay, but you have to tell me why you looked so happy onstage." He says and I sigh, irritated now. "Come on...between friends."

"Because...on stage I wasn't Maddie Smith...I was someone else. I was Christine. She had her father and he died, yes, but she knew him. It's stupid." I shake my head.

"No it isn't." He says and then he pauses. "Will you sing for me?" He asks and I look at him like he's on crack. "Seriously? That look again?"

"Why would you want to hear me sing?" I ask, laughing nervously. Showing my nerves? That's a big step for me.

"Because, I want to. It may inspire me to keep quiet about your little bout as Christine." He says and I gawk at him. "It's not blackmail."

"Yeah it is." I say and then shake my head. "Fine. Right now?" I ask and he nods. I take in a breath and begin. "You have brought me, to that moment when words run dry. To that moment when speech disappears into silence...silence. I have come here, hardly knowing the reason why. In my mind I've already imagined our bodies entwining, defenseless and silent. Now I am here with you, no second thoughts. I've decided. Decided. Past the point of no return, no going back now. Our passion play has now at last begun. Past all thought right or wrong, one final question. How long should we two wait before we're one? When will the blood begin to race? The sleeping bud burst into bloom? When will the flames at last consume us? Past the point of no return. The final threshold. The bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn. We've passed the point of no...return." I finish singing and it's dead silent in the car. It's also not moving. Tony starts clapping.

"Wow..." He says, actually seeming to mean it. "That was...why did you become a cop again? You could have made it big."

"You know why." I say, punching his arm lightly. "Are you ready to face the blinding lights of death?"

"Yup." He says as he hops out of the car. He walks around and tosses the valet who was going to open my door the keys and opens the door for me. I step out and he wraps his arm around my waist and we start walking. Paparazzi goes nuts when they see us. We get bombarded with questions, but we just 'politely' push past and head inside.

"They really love them some Tony Stark." I say smiling slightly. He just shrugs and we walk up to the host.

"Two for Stark." Tony says confidently and the poor host who is obviously intimidated stammers something that sounds like 'of course' and leads us to a table in the back. "You know...they love you too."

"No, they love to attack me. They think that I'm too good to be true." I say, keeping dejection out of my tone. "I'm apparently too benevolent for today's society."

"Little orphan Annie with a gun." He says and I can't help but laugh, picturing that. "There we go, that's a good laugh. You'll get used to the attacks sooner or later. I did."

"You've dealt with it your entire life. I literally got thrown into the deep end and I'm either going to sink or swim." I say, being a realist.

"That's what they're waiting for. You to swim." He says and I smile at his optimism. At least one of us is being hopeful about my social life.

"Yeah yeah. You're being more optimistic than usual." I say and he shrugs. "You in a good mood for any particular reason?"

"It's just been a good week. You know...it's not every day you get engaged to a beautiful young woman." He says, offering me one of his most confident smiles yet.

"Nice job, even you have me convinced. Who's the lucky girl?" I ask, just playing around. "You said she was beautiful and young."

"Honey, you are young." He says almost dryly. "Your hair looks nice too, and that color looks good on you."

"Thanks. Blue's my favorite." I say, smoothing the sweater down and taking that chance to look away. Is he serious or just acting?

"I know, it sort of shows in your wardrobe and food preferences." He says and I raise my eyebrow at him. "Never before have I had to keep blue moon ice cream on stock."

"So it's a guilty pleasure, sue me." I say, like a confession to a crime. If liking ice cream is a crime, well lock me up.

"It's not a bad thing. I appreciate a girl who likes to eat." He says with a slight shrug. "It's kind of sexy."

"Oh baby." I say with a laugh. "You're one of the weirdest guys I know, and trust me. I know a lot of people."

"Oh, I know you do. I'm an expert on you, remember?" He says and I laugh, shaking my head at him.

"You're an expert at stalking me, that's what you are." I say and he gives me his best innocent look. "Sorry, that doesn't work on me."

"That's right, you were a cop. I guess I'll just have to pay you off with nice things...and ice cream." He says like it's no big deal.

"Don't spend your money on me." I say with a roll of my eyes. "I'm definitely not worth it. Just take all of the money you'd like to spend on me, and donate it to my favorite charity."

"Trick question. You don't have a favorite charity, you love them all." He says, smirking at me. I roll my eyes. "Oh, it wasn't a quiz?"

"No, you goof ball." I shake my head again. "You're ridiculous, you know that right?" I ask and he just shrugs.

"Oh, while you're in a good mood I thought that it would be a good time to bring this up...Oprah is throwing us an engagement party." He says and I gape at him. "Yay?" He asks, giving me a questioning look.

"It just seems unnecessary." I say, trying to keep my cool. "Why would Oprah throw us an engagement party?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's because you're a noob and you've been donating money to charities left and right." He says and I shrug. "Oprah's a very nice lady, I met her a couple of times."

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this." I say quietly. I don't know if it's good or bad...it's just strange.

"What? Being engaged to me?" He asks as he reaches across the table and takes my hand. He gazes into my eyes for a moment before doing something on his phone. I hear a collective groan. Paparazzi, no doubt. He rolls his eyes. "And you say I'm ridiculous."

"Oh, they're ridiculous too. It's just that you're ridiculous in a different want than they are." I say and he smiles. "You're in a good mood...or you're very good at hiding things."

"Can't you have less acute observation skills?" He asks and I shrug. "I'm just in a really good mood, okay?"

"Bolshevik." I say and he gives me the 'are you serious?' look. "Yes, I'm very serious. You're never in this great of a mood."

"Well, maybe you make me really happy." He says, his tone borderline defensive. "Didn't think about that, did you?"

"I guess I didn't." I admit, my voice softening a bit. "I still don't believe that's what's going on though."

"Well, then I guess you'll just be kept wondering." He says, a smirk edging it's way onto his face. Man...he's annoying. "Anyway, I've scheduled family pictures with Shaggy for noon tomorrow."

"I knew that was coming." I say with a nod. "Alright...since I'm the mother though, you have to match me...and I don't look good in red."

"But that's my favorite color." He fake whines and I roll my eyes. "Fine, but we're not wearing blue. It makes me look pale."

"And looking pale is the worst thing in the world?" I ask and he shrugs. "Come on, there are more important things than being tan."

"You only say that because you're whiter than this table cloth." He says and I gawk at him. "What? I'm being honest."

"You're being an ass, that's what you're being." I pout and he reaches across the table and grabs my hand again.

"Hey, I'm sorry." He says, rolling his eyes on it. He sounds sincere though. I roll my eyes as he kisses my hand. Paparazzi must be back online.

"This is actually beautiful." I say as I look at the ring in the box. "Please tell me it didn't cost half of your fortune." I joke and he just shrugs.

"It really wasn't that bad. Here." He says as he takes it out of the box. I hold out my left hand and he slides the ring on. "Perfect fit." I feel the impending tears and immediately work at holding them back.

"I'm going to take a nap." I announce. My voice sounds a bit strange to me, but Tony doesn't seem to take notice.

"Alright, if you need anything I'll be in the lab." He says and I smile and head to the bedroom. When did things get so...strange like this? I never imagined myself ever getting involved with anyone romantically...and here I am slowly but surely falling for Tony Stark, one of the biggest playboys of all time. I think this scares me more than the thought that there is someone who wants me dead more than anything in the world. I walk into the bathroom and grab a wash cloth from the rack and begin washing my face. "Maddie?" Tony asks as he opens the door.

"In here." I say as I step into the doorway of the bathroom. He walks over to me, not looking like he's sure about what he wants to say.

"Okay...so I noticed a look on your face." He says and I give him the 'no, really?' look. "Well obviously there's always a look on your face. Anyway." He says, exhaling. "Are you alright? Don't tell me you're just tired, either. I think I've learned enough about you to know that in this situation, that's bull shit. Just a minute ago you look like you were about to cry."

"Way to put it eloquently." I say as I go back to the mirror and finish washing the little bit of make up I was wearing off. "I don't know...honestly." I say and he watches my face. "I never..." I start, but shake my head. "Seriously, it's nothing important."

"We're friends, right?" He asks and I look at him and nod. "You trust me, right?" He asks and I purse my lips.

"Yes and no." I say and he nods. "I mean...it's...I trust you as my friend." I decide. "I just...ugh." I throw my hands up and move out of the bathroom. I begin pacing. "I'm frustrated."

"Why are you frustrated?" He asks, and I just shake my head. This is so out of character for him. "Maddie, I want to help you."

"You don't help me." I say, being honest. "You're what frustrates me. It's not really intentional. I'm more frustrated at myself than anything."

"So...I frustrate you, but not really because you're more frustrated with yourself?" He asks and I nod. "Women are so complicated. What's got you so frustrated?" He asks and then realization dawns on him. "Do you...like me?"

"You sound like a ten year old." I say, going over to the window. I cross my arms and look out. It's snowing and the people on the street below all look like ants. "I've never been in a relationship or really been attracted to anyone."

"I'm attracted to you too...and not just because you have a very nice body. Which you do, by the way." He says and I look t him.

"Maddie?" Steve's voice carries through the door. "Will is on the phone, and he wants to talk to you." He says and I all but run to the door.

"We'll talk in just a minute." I say to Tony who nods. I open the door and Steve hands me the phone. "William."

"Why hello Miss. Penn, it's nice to finally talk to you." A strange voice says. I don't show my confusion though. "I would appreciate if you wouldn't let them know that this isn't William."

"Where are you, Will?" I ask, my voice sounding a bit strange to myself. "I wish you would come home."

"Very good. Now, I realize that you must be a very busy woman, but I really would like to meet you." He says.

"When?" I ask, and I hear him chuckle. I know that he's going to try and kill me. "I can't this week, but maybe next week I can come out to Boston."

"Very well, I'll see you then. Goodbye." He says and the line disconnects. I hang up and hand the phone back to Steve.

"Thank you, Steve." I say, trying to appear to be happy. "I'm going to Boston next week..." Fury walks through the elevator doors.

"There's no need to lie, Penn." He says and I look at him like he's crazy. "That isn't the guy who wants to kill you. We just wanted to see if you would hold back and try to do this on your own."

"I'm going to take my nap now." I say as I turn and try to walk back through the door, but Tony is standing in my way.

"As of right now, you're to have one of your team members with you at all times. If none of them are available, there will be an agent to escort you. Not to mention your personal body guard. Are there any questions?" Fury asks and I shake my head. "Good. Now, I've got some important work to do." He says before he leaves.

"So, you were really going to face him on your own all along?" Steve asks and I sigh, even more frustrated than before.

"Look...I don't expect you to understand. I just feel like this is something I have to handle on my own. I'm not going to have my friends die because some punk wants me dead." I say before trying to push past Tony. He grabs me by the shoulders.

"You're not alone." He says and I just look at him. "Do you hear me? You're not alone on this. If you haven't noticed, we can all kind of kick ass."

"You look tired, go ahead and take your nap." Steve says before walking away and I realize that I've pissed America off again. I feel the tears well up before I can stop them and I break out of Tony's hold and go to the bathroom and lock the door behind me. I ignore Tony's knocking on the door and turn on the shower. I sit down on the floor and cry. God...what have I been reduced to? Someone wants me dead. My best friend is missing. I'm in love with someone who probably doesn't feel the same. I've managed to piss off one of the greatest people I know.

"Maddie, please open the door." Tony says and I ignore him again. I hug my knees to my chest. I hear the door open and I sense him standing over me before he sits down and pulls me into his arms.

"Everything I know is going to shit. My best friend is gone, I pissed off Steve, there's some lunatic out there who wants me dead, and you probably don't even feel the same way about me that I feel about you." I cry, sounding pathetic. Since the whole Avengers thing, I've become such a mess. I used to be very well put together. I handled things well. Or did I? Have I always been such a mess? Did I just drown myself in my work to forget about my issues...no, I was fine. Not necessarily happy, but I wasn't depressed. I certainly didn't have to face such complicated things. It was Will and I...that's all. He and I solving cases and being best friends. "I hate this so much." I cry.

"It's going to be okay." Tony promises. "Steve will get over it. Will will come back. We'll catch the bastard who's trying to kill you." He says and then he makes me look up at him. "And...well I kinda like you too." He then kisses me, and just like in my dream I get that dizzy feeling. He pulls away and I look at him, and I know I'm blushing. "I promise..."


End file.
